so having my mom over a few days always makes me realize how much I "get" from her; mannerisms, patterns of behavior, likes and dislikes.

for better or for worse we are related by more than blood.

then I look down at mia and maika and wonder how much I am affecting them? am I stifling certain impulses they have and developing others not natural to them?

a great quote from a book I forget:

"when will we see eachother as we are rather than as reflections of other people"

sometimes there are moments in the day when Mia says something silly or Maika all of a sudden bends over with her butt in the air and I think to myself, "who are these children?" they seem all foriegn and distant to me, as if we didn't spend almost every moment of almost every day together.

and if my girls can still surprise me, then how much of Naoto is uncharted territory? I guess even after 8 years there is much I don't know (I think I do know, but I don't) about him.