One of those moments.

fairyland 016, originally uploaded by Kristianna.

So we went to Fairyland the other day with a few other friends from playgroup. It was okay, but Bunny and I agreed, all things equal, that we like Happy Hollow better.

I took dozens of photos, but this is one of my favorites. It's not the typical happy child at an amusement park photo; quite the opposite. In this, Carter's obviously unhappy. But why?

Well, it's one of those typical, hard toddler moments. Moments before Carter was on the ferris wheel with Bunny. For about 10 seconds. He climbed in, and sat down, then the person operating the ride closed and locked the door. No mamas allowed b/c there is a height restriction of about 4 feet. Carter immediately began to cry, and they opened the door right away to let him off.

But Carter didn't want to get off the ride. He wanted, I suppose, to sit on my lap. He probably didn't understand at all why Mama wasn't getting in. I finally had to pick him up and 'help' him off the ride so that it wasn't held up any longer than it already had been.

Which is when I took this photo. Carter is experiencing that frustrating desire to do what he's just not ready to do. Bunny, at the same age, would have had the same inability to go on the ride alone (and she did--we had a few rides at the boardwalk have to be stopped as soon as she started to move)... but she got mad. Carter appears to be feeling the loss as he watches Bunny go up and enjoy her ride. He so badly wants to be a big boy, but he's still got a lot of baby in him.

So, for those reasons, for the way it touches the heart of a mama, this is one of my favorite photos from that day.