Do you ever look at those gorgeous shots of siblings gently holding, hugging or kissing their little brothers or sisters?  I’ve always wanted to nail that shot but anyone who has a toddler probably knows that it’s nearly impossible.  Not only are they on the move pretty much 24/7, but they also sense when you really want them to do something and will do just about anything not to do just that.

After struggling to get P to smile nicely at the camera or to very gently hold her sister for longer than .5 seconds (aka not long enough for me to take the shot), I turned to bribery.

That’s right…these pictures are the result of Peanut being bribed with very small (think mini M&M) pieces of chocolate.

Here’s the result of saying, “no more chocolate.”

Wondering how Peanut sat and smiled so nicely for this photo?

A tiny piece of a tootsie roll.  Yup.  You’re very welcome for sharing that little tid-bit with you.

For the record, I prefer to bribe with non-chocolate candy so it doesn’t leave any chocolate marks, but our tot is obsessed with chocolate and is a rather effective bargainer.

But don’t worry – these are the only two times that I’ve bribed our kid into taking photos like these (although now that I know how effective it can be, I have a feeling it’ll happen again).  These moments are brought to you without any bribery…just Peanut’s true love for her little sister and her toddler need to be in the center of whatever it is that we’re doing.