The week that was perfect

So--our week with Little Miss was heavenly.  She was 2. very 2. Independent, determined, demanding, and oh-so-melt your heart.  I actually wrote a paragraph about her stay each night for the first few days...and I intended to post them--but I read them now and cried.  I just want to keep them to myself.  That week was so perfect.  We were parents.  We went to the park, to the mall, etc-and when people saw us-they saw a family.  I broke down in tears-at the mall- the first time I realized this.  The husband didn't have dry eyes either.
We learned a lot that week.  Our home-no matter how we tried-wasn't child proofed enough.  Our dog acted like an older sibling when you bring home a new baby.  She was jealous-wanted to be on me, next to me, under me-but please don't let the little girl touch me or fall on me.  But she can feed me from her plate. They both did fine-no matter what we tried Little Miss had to be touching Chloe at all times she was in the room-in reality that, and eating vegetables, were the only things I was unable to get under control (so to speak) of all the very cute climbing, touching, demanding, stubborn 2 year old things that come with a child who doesn't know you and wants to test boundaries.  So we just gave the dog breaks (i.e. naps in our bed)-she is almost 13 after all--(and who needs to eat veggies for a week stay anyway).
OMG-and installing a car seat deserves to be an Olympic sport.  I am tall.  I don't fit in a back seat of most cars.  Let;s just say I have never been so contorted and uncomfortable putting that in-and then when it came unhooked-doing it all a second time. And then a third time when Little Miss showed us just how fast she could get out of the harness (needed tightened-which basically means taking it out to tighten.  It didn't get any easier to bend my body into that backseat with "practice". 
The husband and I watched kids shows all week.  She didn't-which is great (from a speech therapist side of things) except when there was singing.  I figured I would take the week to watch the shows my students watch.  I had never seen Bob the Builder or Thomas the tank engine (yes, I knew who they were).  My favorite by far was Lazy Town.  I don't know why.  Robbie Rotten, I think.-his face was so expressive..and the Icelandic accent.  The husband liked it so much he recorded a few episodes to put on when "nothing else" was on. Seriously.
I missed a huge part of the Olympics.  Gymnastics is my favorite Summer event.  I literally saw the last girls routine each night and one mens routine.  That was it.  and forget about "on demand viewing" I was tired.  Happyily exhausted.  Not complaining, though-I would give up TV and sleep completely to be a Mom.

So the week came to an end way too quick-and she left us.  It has been a month and we still miss her terribly.  Her toys are still out.  Her bed is still made.  The sippy cups and kid plates are still "in my way".  The car seat is still firmly implanted in my car.

We were kind of teased before she came-and after by the agency that she might come live with us permanently (and yes, there were reasons they thought it might happen including an emergency call to us before she came to "take her early" which ended up not happening)....so while she was here we had that in our heads and "a week" might be forever...it was too easy to let ourselves get attached when we thought she might be "ours" someday. 

....but as of yesterday, we were told that isn't going to happen.

We are back on THAT rollercoaster