Living with a parrot surrounded by barricades...

Welcome to Fort Lexi...

Paula and the girls moved in last week to stay with us for a few months while Eddie is away at basic and skills training for the Air Force. Since they have moved in, we have been trying to get the house organized again. However, the task is still not complete. There was a ton of laundry that needed to be done. Besides the regular stuff, there were extra linens and things of Eddie's that needed to be laundered and packed away. Then we have had to combine two kitchens into one as far as food goes. We moved the computer and the majority of the office stuff into our bedroom, so that we could turn the office into Lexi's room, which we found works much better than having both girls in the same room. Anyway, there are boxes, storage containers, blankets, and laundry hampers everywhere...the perfect tools to barricade Grandma into a corner or a makeshift fort so that she can't move. Even a chair or an occasional toy seems to do the job. So last night as I was trying to finish up the laundry, I was surrounded by laundry hampers, open washer/dryer doors, garbage cans, and miscellaneous objects, while Lexi was instructing me to "close the door, Grandma." What should have taken about an hour to complete took about 3, and I still had to complete things after Lexi finally went to bed. In the meantime, I can hear Paula laughing in the background.

We have also found that this skilled 2 year old fort builder resembles a parrot in many ways. Kinda like one of those birds that you try to teach respectable language to, but the things they "pick up" and repeat are the undesirable words that slip out of your mouth, like "oh crap." So it has been an interesting and sometimes humorous experience watching two old grandparents change their daily routine and habits to fit into the lifestyle of a two year old who wants to mimic everything they do.