Yesterday was my littles b-day and she had her wish list, which was actually extraordinarily reserved, but I tried to pick up a couple of extra things for her as well. She was having none of it. I tried to coerce her and it backfired. She gets an allowance and, since she gets to do whatever she wants with it without resistance from me, she decided she wanted to buy me some shirts... so shopping for her became her shopping for me.

It wasn't until today that I realized that she'll be wearing those clothes too - so an outside observer might think that it was more or less like a husband coming home and announcing to his wife that he bought her an RV. As long as they remain married, it's kind of his too. But it wasn't like that. They were for me - from her. Period. She has her own clothes.

So I started trying to think of other weird little dynamics we have. I found one for sure... stuffies. I can NOT put a stuffed animal in a bag or suitcase. Apparently they can't breath in there - who would thunk? So I dutifully don't put them anywhere they can't breath. If it gets too hot out and I'm on my way to work, I'll leave the air conditioner on for them. I know it's strange, but her distress over the welfare of her stuffies is so great that even if I didn't care about her, our day would be completely destroyed by an ongoing, internal panic attack.

So, any strange dynamics in your life because of alters?