When that moment of toddler stubborn brat behavior is AWESOME.

Definitely should have gone through his bookshelf and reclaimed this one already.

I won’t lie and say I haven’t seen it and thought about that already.  I have.  I’ve noticed it over and over again.  Why did I leave it there?  Honestly, I have no idea.  Maybe I WANTED him to ask me about it.  Maybe it’s just like the bottle of Prometrium.  Or maybe it’s simply another one of those things I haven’t had the energy for lately.  I wouldn’t doubt it – that list seems to grow exponentially.

When Braden brought this book, “I’m a Big Brother!” to me to read yesterday, it was one of those Big Sigh Moments.  What was I going to do?  It’s not like I could tell him, “Oh, no, Braden.  Mommy can’t read this to you because you AREN’T a big brother!  Mommy’s attempts at elevating you to that status were what The Internet likes to call a FAIL.  In other words, Braden, U can haz babee bruthr? #NO.”

So, I just did the Internal Tamping of Emotions and took the book, opened it, and prepared to read it to him.  With perhaps a few edits, or maybe even an entirely fake story.  “This totally looks like a baby, but it’s really a rocket ship headed for outer space!  Weee!”

He had one of those ultra I CAN DO IT MYSELF moments suddenly, however, and he snatched the book back because he had decided he didn’t want me to read it after all.  He wanted to read it to himself.  He employed toddler gibberish style reading… something along the lines of, “Sebbah litte bear and a shhh shhh bee bee alla beb and too and no no no hahahahaha, then daddee so hehe see? Hahahaha!”

Much better than anything I was going to make up.  And definitely a moment when I was so glad that he inherited my his dad’s control issues.

Space: In terms of family, it’s just a myth.

Today’s Photohunt Theme is “Space”

No matter how much space you have between you and the family members you grew up with, they can reach out and slap you as easily as if they were just whispering in your ear a moment ago.

It’s not just the fact that we are so connected nowadays, though that is what enables it.  But the slap is sharp and quick because they hold a part of you.

No matter how far away from you they are, no matter how long it has been since you have spoken or seen one another, they have the ammunition to bring you to your knees.

They know things that no one else knows.  They are always the quickest to offense and the most equipped to pull you down… and why is it that they always seem to opt to exercise that power when you’re finally lifting your head above your own sordid bullshit?

Many of us have stories that fall into this zone, this space of feeling and emotion.

Sometimes, I just want to stop hearing the ones that play over and over in my head. And I’d like to stop adding new ones to the list.

And if you could successfully edit the reel of memories that plays back inside of you from the past… would you even want to?

Can we appreciate the good times if we don’t have the bad times?

This double edged sword of emotions is piercing my heart today.