How do you spell - L O V E ?

At our house these days it is spelled, A L I C E. She is such a joy. She has brought new life and energy to our home and our lives. We are busy, morning to night. We have very little time for ourselves right now. We are having to reteach many things. We are learning how to parent with limited communication. We are loving every minute. Well, maybe not EVERY MINUTE, but most of the time. :)

Alice is so quick to smile. She wants to try EVERYTHING! Don't tell anyone, but DH has let her shift in his car and the truck. He let her steer the truck coming through our neighborhood (from the passenger seat, but the truck does not have power steering - he did make the necessary corrections and no small children, animals or parked vehicles were damaged in this bonding experience!!) It was early on a Saturday morning, on their way home from the landfill - talk about bonding experience, really, the landfill?!?!?

Alice has started showing affection to the dogs. She ignored them and actually avoided touching them the first days home. Just the past few days she has started speaking to them and touching them. Today she actually started petting them. She's even learned how to fuss at Skylar for her incessant barking.

Alice calls us Mom and Dad. Friday when I saw DH pulling up in front of the house from work I told her, "Dad's home" and out she went to greet him with a big smile.

Last night she spent time with DH going through old photo albums, asking who all the people in the pictures were. She kept trying to tell her twin brothers apart in the pictures, but just laughed and shook her head after a while. I mean, it's tough for us to tell them apart in the pictures from 20 years ago. I can't imagine her trying to tell who's who. When I called her brother today, she indicated she wanted to talk to him. She asked if he was coming over today, so he agreed to come over for supper. When he showed up, her face just lit up! She was outside helping Dad clean the backyard, but she promptly motioned for her brother to follow her as she made a beeline for the house. I had a good guess where she was headed and I was right - straight to the photo albums to ask her brother to tell her which twin he is in the pictures!!!

DH and I are finding that she has knocked us way out of our old ruts that we had started feeling settled in since the big kids stopped needing us. We are not watching much TV and are busier and actually feeling more energized having her around. I'm sure she is as good for us as we are for her.