Recreate the E.T. stuffed animal scene with your baby

My ten-year old and I just watched E.T. for the first time together. He was the perfect age for it. We both cried, though not as hard as I remember sobbing at the end of the film when I saw it in the theater as a child. I loved this movie and loved watching it with my son.

If you don’t remember this iconic scene, take thirty seconds to watch it. Elliot’s mom hears noise coming from his bedroom. When she goes to survey the scene, she even opens the closet door. E.T. is hidden among so many stuffed animals, her eyes pass right over him.

My college boyfriend J.J. Carroll is a rookie dad, artist, and toy enthusiast in Omaha, Nebraska. Sure, I’ll never see him again, but Facebook keeps me informed.

When he put out a call for stuffed animals for a photoshoot, I was amused; my house probably contains this quantity of stuffed animals, without contributions from other families, but of course in our first year of parenthood, we were not yet hoarders.

These photos of J.J.’s baby Maxwell, taken by Omaha photographer Dana Damewood, are a tribute to the E.T. closet scene, and in my mind, the perfect holiday card photo for Maxwell’s first Christmas.

Wait! I spy Daddy’s head in there! Hey, JJ!

Thanks for sharing your project, old friend. Congrats on your cutie!

Author
Recent Posts

Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.