Princess Alexandra is who she says she is. She is truly remarkable. From the time she was an infant, people commented on the way she looked through their eyes and right into their soul. For the first two years of her life, she was quite reserved. She didn't show much emotion, and was rarely outgoing. Then something happened. She bloomed. She became this uninhibited, affectionate, outgoing little girl. I think that much of the time she is surviving with two brothers. She so badly wants to be a girly girl and at the same time a ruff and tumble tom boy. She is seeking her identity.

 She hasn't quite discovered how incredibly wonderful her dad is. If I'm around she rarely wants anything to do with him. But, I see glimpses of her affection for him. I think someday soon she will understand that his affection and deep love for her is like no other and she will seek his attention and love even more than mine. A lot of who Alex is depends on the day. One day she will be the most pleasant and enjoyable little girl on the planet. Usually this happens when she is alone with me or Kevin. Other days she is moody and flies off the handle at any given moment. Almost all the time she can be comforted with affection. This is very hard to do when all I feel like doing is giving her a dirty look and walking away.

 Alex LOVES her Great Grandma Helen. She also loves to see all of her extended family members and enjoys talking to them on the phone. She loves to dance and dress up like a princess. She loves teasing her twin brother, Shane mostly because he is a very easy target. He reacts like crazy to her. Sometimes I see Alex and Shane like an old married couple. I'll start to hear them fighting. Many times Shane starts it by saying things to Alex that makes her crazy ("you're not a princess, you're a witch"). Usually his cutting remarks are quiet. If you don't listen carefully, you don't even realize that he is causing a problem. Then Alex starts yelling at him. I tell Alex she is not allowed to yell. She stops yelling, and then Shane starts screaming because Alex pinched or bit him. Now I have to remember to tell Alex that she can't yell or use physical abuse. But, Shane egged her on...just like a typical male:>). 

Alex doesn't like watermellon, how weird is that? She loves anything dairy, except for warm string cheese. The other day we went to singing practice at church for Jesse's primary program. Most of the kids were 8-12 years old. Alex really wanted to go with all of the kids to sing. When I told her she could, she was up in a second making her way through all of the big kids to grab a place in the front.

 I would really like Alex to have a sister. When she gets together with her little girlfriends, it makes my heart sing. She really enjoys playing with girls. I feel like of the three kids, I know Alex the least. Mostly because she is very complicated. She is unpredictable and very hard to label. My biggest hope with Alex is for her to find who she is and be at peace. I hope and pray that she and I will have solid relationship for the rest of our days. I took her with me shopping for shoes the other day. Keep in mind her favorite colors are pink and purple. I tried on some brown boots and asked her if she liked them. She looked at them carefully, walked over to another pair of (pink) shoes and said, "Mama, I really like these ones". She never said she didn't like the brown ones, but she definitely let me know in her own way.