Modobject at Home: Cousins and Moments

Earlier this week we kept my nephew for a couple of days. (Can you believe his gorgeous, golden locks?) The boys had a grand time playing together.

I was so proud of Boo while little Cousin was with us. He was quick to obey, patient and loving with the little guys, and a great help to me. Son, I am proud of you. You displayed wonderful servant-leader characteristics. You are still a boy, but I am beginning to see glimpses of the young man that you are becoming.

The professor arrived home from work on Monday evening to find three buckets worth of blocks strewn across the living room floor (oh, how I wish I had a photo!). Under the blocks... so many cracker crumbs he wondered if we had played Tiddlywinks with Ritz. Almost.

My nephew is just a few months younger than Tukes... two, age two. Yes, as you can imagine, we had some lessons in sharing. A conversation with Tukes went something like this:

MG: "Now, Tukes we have to share our toys."

Tukes: "Yeah, da-share," he replied before promptly turning and running away with the coveted toy.

There were also lessons on not hitting. Tukes, in all his two-year-old wisdom, told me that he "da-hit" his cousin. (Did he think I would approve?) "We do not hit our cousin, or our friends, or our brother," I told him. Later that same day Tukes received his just dessert when his cousin hit and then chased him around the living room, through the dining room and office, and into the kitchen. The same no hitting talk, to a different two-year-old, ensued.

I find myself with the camera in hand more and more these days. I suppose one of the purposes of this blog is being accomplished... I am using (and enjoying) the camera more than ever. I've learned that the simple still-life photos are the easy shots, the challenge... learning to spot and capture moments, to visually record the heart and soul and feeling of a place and a point in time.

My struggle is how to balance viewing life with my own eyes as opposed as through the camera lens. While the camera captures a portion of a moment I feel I miss out on experiencing it in its fullness when my eyes are behind the lens. It's a balancing act, as life is, to be sure.