Chapter 337

This week was the All Reagan Channel and we really only did three things this week:  Get ready for Reagan to visit, take care of Reagan, and clean up after Reagan left. After having the night terrors on her last visit, we decided the only thing to be done was to redecorate so the room/gym didn't seem so plain. Since I wanted it quick and fun and didn't have time to call in the family artist, Chelsea, the obvious choice remaining was to order from Amazon. 

So, for $12 including postage, directly from China, we ordered up some tree decals and in an hour had made a fun change to Reagan's room.

Her corner looks a lot more friendly. (The handicap bar on the wall was for me to steady myself on the treadmill when it was on that wall.)

The next day at dawn I drove Chris and Carissa to the airport

and returned home with a fully-loaded toddler ready to go. First she played with her purse, wallet, and credit cards,

Then took her tractor for a spin up and down the hallway.

We met Erik and went for a nice walk to the park where the only thing she really wanted to do was push her stroller around the park. We finally decided the soccer field was the best place to do this and left her to it. Although I have a nice large stroller here, we chose the lightweight speed version for our trip to the park. This is a "heritage" stroller previously used by her mom and Auntie Kyanne.

Mom and Dad get a ride in the tractor bucket. 

Reagan enjoyed playing with her "heritage" toys. Also known as her mom's toys from the attic. She spent hours with the Fisher-Price main street, farm, house, & park with all the horrible dangers that come with unsafe toys built in the 80's.

Saying "Good Morning" to Mom and Dad.

One of our activities was going on a walk to hunt for the perfect rock to paint. This led into another time killer called washing the rocks. We were so busy we didn't get to paint the rocks. Hopefully we can do it next time she comes over.

We went for a lot of walks either around the house or at local parks.

A long walk requires a drink from Grama's ever-present Starbucks water cup.

She spotted this grocery cart from outside the store and wanted to ride in it. There was another mom and little girl going for it but the other mom was smaller and I felt I could take her so Reagan could have the cart. Although the cart was soaking wet, she wanted to ride in it. We were going to buy a Valentine card to decorate and put into our mailbox so she could get it out of her mailbox. Just as we were leaving, an entire busload of people were unloading at the door and she watched every last person get off. They were wearing Orion stickers on their jackets and Bob had seen them previously touring the production floor at Orion.

After a trip to the store, a nap was in order. Here she grabs a bit of quiet (for me) reading time before she gets up.

Then she helped me restock diapers in the cabinet over the dryer.

Considering what a toddler is capable of, I thought she did a darn good job of it too.

A kale snack before dinner.

She knows tractors are for carrying things and kept loading hers up with everything she could put on it, hook on it, or stuff in it.

One trashed room.

Toddler running wild with only a diaper and self-applied shoes carrying her blanket, a tote, and a cup of water.

Bear and Reagan roam the yard following each other around and never very far from one another.

Mowing the lawn is always a good winter activity. Reagan is wearing a cousin-me-down hat from Payton.

It it always the way it is? The lawn mower always runs out of bubbles in the middle of the lawn, never anywhere near the shed where the bubbles are kept.

Reagan is helping Grampa feed the birds while Bear guards her lawn mower.

Every pattern in her wardrobe is necessary to go for a swing.

I took Reagan to see Grampa at Orion and she totally stopped progress for the time she was there. Everyone had to come out of their offices and say "hi" to her. Reagan was trying to turn on Grampa's computer to find a picture of herself. In her world, every computer has a picture of her on it.

Grampa had some Pla-doh left over from a workshop he went to and so Reagan set up a little test for the janitors to see if they clean desks off.

In the middle of all this action, Bob sold the PT Cruiser. I thought I'd take a photo of the nice stack of $100 bills for you. I use Nitro's pole for a photo stand because the light is so good. I was trying to spread the money out to take a picture but Nitro decided since I was using his pole, he needed to be present for the photo. 


Despite trying to move Nitro off the money, he acted like any good wife would and staked out his claim on our next few Subaru payments.

Auntie Kyanne came over (and rifled through the $100 bills) to give Grama and Grampa a much needed break. Here they play the foot piano together.

Reagan is either telling Kyanne how to ride Rockie, or ordering her off. I didn't hear the conversation. I'm pretty sure though that if Reagan was ordering her off I would have hear the very loud "MINE" that is so popular this week. For whatever reason, this includes cars driving down the road. She yells "MINE" at them as they go by.

Kyanne and Reagan take a rest...for a nano second.

Reagan decided the perfect combination was to dip Grampa's new toothbrush she found (and unwrapped) into Auntie Kyanne's water glass and brush her teeth. This is good since I saw C and C left a tube of Colgate on the bathroom counter and I though I was supposed to use it for Reagan's teeth. I didn't know she didn't use toothpaste and put Colgate on her brush. It's going to take her parents a while to get her to like teeth brushing again after that fine grand parenting move! Chris and Carissa just have to remember that they got what they pay for.

And, as our five days with Reagan had begun, they also ended with a beautiful sunrise.