As always, when working with toddlers, if they aren’t in a smiling mood and all your tricks aren’t working then just go with whatever mood they are in. Besides, toddlers don’t just come in “silly and funny” personality type, they can be moody and they can be serious and other personalities as well – the trick is to not make them cardboard cutouts by forcing a look they just aren’t into at the moment.
Anyway, these photos were taken on a cloudy day and something I will repeat every time I write about cloudy day photography is that the sun acts as a giant softbox and disperses the light evenly. This tends to mute colors and make for great black and white photos, that doesn’t mean you have to write off color photos. Since you know the colors are likely to appear muted, just have your subjects dress in bright solid colors. This will help the eye go straight to the subject you are photographing. If you throw in some leading lines, you can have even more eye direction going on and ensure your subject is the center of attention in your photography work.
Finally, she is holding a flower we found out in the woods – always make sure you look up what plants are out there. Not every flower is safe to touch and some carry toxins that may require handwashing or outright avoidance. You have a phone, look things up. No photograph is worth dying for.