Our House

Our house has always been an 'interesting' place, but since our daughter and grand daughter moved back in it is moreso.  Our living room - what was once a stylish, orderly, and clean space now resembles a Fisher Price test area and in order to enter or leave it, I must 'take' a three-foot gate that the baby has learned to lift up and crawl under, yelling, "KATH, WHERE ARE YOU?"  Baby bottles and paraphernalia line the once cleared granite counter tops in the kitchen, hand and lip prints and doggie schtuz adorn the TV, sliding glass doors and anything shorter than four feet.

A huge dog crate (for a huge dog) with an old feather duvet that spews feathers every time the dog adjusts himself is parked in our dining room.  (We put him in the crate when the baby is eating, otherwise we re-enact Darwin theories like 'survival of the fittest'.)  Everyone who comes to the door (the UPS man, various and sundry work people,  my husband's business associates (both he and daughter work from our home), and the only occasional friend for me) are heartily greeted by a 22-month old who assigns them names according to whom she's already met that they look like. For instance, some time ago we had a sweet babysitter named Morgan.  The baby loved her and so every sitter thereafter has been dubbed "Morgan-Danielle" or "Morgan-Jenn" and anyone man coming to the door who looks like Jimmie, the man who delivers our wood, is greeted as such...LOUDLY.  Most people reply in kind; who can resist?

Living with an adult child and her child is not easy.  We've all learned to compromise and the importance of self medication :).  Mostly, we've learned how much we love each other.  As it happens, our experiment will come to an end in about 60 days as our daughter bought a lovely home about 15 minutes from here for herself and her daughter.  Are we looking forward to being empty-nesters again?   Of course, but it certainly will be quiet...