How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways... Or some days, it's just: Let me count. To Ten. Slowly. In My Head. Before I Flip.

Ten things I've needed to count to ten about in the past week (in no particular order):

#1- I thought I'd rid the entire house of accessible (to Reagan, anyway) writing utensils. And I was right. Sort of. One day while I was feeding Elsa, Reagan got my Antiperspirant out of my bathroom drawer, took the lid off and used it to "paint" all over my nice leather couches. I don't even want to go in to how much work it took to get that cleaned up.

#2- The next day, again while I was feeding Elsa, Reagan got in to Nick's desk (the drawer where he keeps all of his snack food), and got out a bag of Keebler Rainbow Chip cookies. She used the chocolate from the cookies to draw a mural on my wall.

#3- When Reagan wandered off somehwere in the house one afternoon, and I found her sitting on the toilet ledge in my bathroom with her feet in the toilet water. When I walked in to the room she excitedly told me "I swimming, Mama!". Gross.

#4-When the Fed Ex guy rings my doorbell while both Reagan and Elsa are napping. How does he not see the green sign on my door that says, "Shhhhh.... Please Knock. Baby Sleeping!" ? And again when a carpet cleaning salesman rings my doorbell. How did me manage to miss BOTH the "Please Knock" sign, AND the "No Soliciting" sign on my front door?! This is somewhat acceptable when my little neighbor kids (who don't have the sign on their eye-level, and may not be able to read that well) knock on my door to sell school fundraiser stuff. But a grown man? Come on.

#5- When Nick and I buy bulk packages of Ivar's Clam Chowder, & Panda Pot Stickers from Costco and then forget that we put them in the back of my car. Only to remember that they are there two days later when I go to load the stroller. That's $25 in the garbage.

#6- When Reagan puts my iPhone in her mouth, even after being asked not to, numerous times. Reagan is more adept at using my phone than I am. I have a whole page of apps just for her. However, it gets pretty annoying when she manages to delete some of my apps, and throws a fit when I need her to share MY phone. I really want to get her an iTouch for Christmas, so that I can reclaim my phone. But Nick says you don't buy a two-year-old an iTouch.

#7- Sometimes I need to count to ten, before I beat myself up. #7 on the list comes because I was dumb enough to give in to Reagan's request. See Below:

It started out as a cute "photo op".

But Reagan had other ideas. I didn't have my camera set to "action photos", because I never expected Reagan to start running around. I was snapping pictures while I tried to catch Reagan.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. Mommy learned her lesson, and I am grateful (as always) that Elsa is so mellow. You can tell by the look on her little face that she is merely tolerating the crazy ride.

#8- When the employees in charge of the pony ride at Thanksgiving Point told my little brother that Reagan could ride by herself. I was on the sidelines taking pictures.

It started off OK. But then Reagan decided she was done and tried to get out of the saddle while the pony was still walking. I started yelling at her "to stay sitting down", and at my brother, to; "go catch my little girl". Reagan started crying, and didn't want to ride the ponies again after that. Which was fine with me.

The last item was so big and took so much counting time that it gets:

#9 AND #10- When Reagan started her usual "I only last 30 minutes sitting in a chair during worship service on Sunday". Nick will usually take her out to the foyer to run around. But somehow, this past Sunday I drew the "short straw". Reagan and I did a lap around the building, and when we came to the end she threw herself on the floor. I picked her up and started walking. After about 10 steps she started crying. I stopped and asked her what was wrong. Her answer was: to throw-up all over me. Several times.

Literally, my brain stopped working. I was in complete shock. Standing there, soaked in vomit.

One of the ladies that I adore, from our church congregation was sitting in the foyer with her husband. They got to witness the whole thing (lucky them!). While I was temporarily incapacitated by shock, Sue jumped up to help me. Her husband went to get cleaning supplies for the carpet and Sue went to alert Nick. Seriously, Sue is so great. It's one of those relationships where I will never be able to repay her for all of her kindness, because she is always doing nice things for me.

Anyway, I booked it out the nearest door. We only live three houses away from the church, and I wanted to make it home to clean both of us up. Nick came running out behind me and kept calling to me. I wasn't responding to him, because I was bent on making it to our house. When he finally caught up to me, he asked. "why are you mad at me?". Then he caught a glimpse of the front of me, and all he could say ways. "oh.". Yeah. That's all there really is to say to that. It isn't the first time Reagan has barfed on me. But it was the first time she has done it in public, and it was BY FAR the most she has ever puked on me. Reagan went down for a long nap, and woke up just fine. Thank goodness.

Yes. There are a lot of times when I need to count. But there are also times when I get to revel in happiness! I don't want to people to get the wrong idea about Reagan. She isn't a devil-child. She is very active, and intelligent. Sometimes her mishaps are my own fault. When I am lazy and leave her to her own devices, what can I expect? Generally, Reagan is a very happy, curious kid. She makes Nick and me laugh. All. The. Time.

For instance, a while ago Reagan was sitting at the table coloring, and she took a bite out of her yellow crayon. This lead me to confiscate the crayon. A few moments later Reagan looked at me and asked, "where yellow crayon go?". I told her, "it's in your tummy.". Reagan lifted up her shirt and looked at her tummy. Then she looked at me and said, "nope.". Gotta love that kid.

I couldn't imagine my life without her, or Elsa.

After this week, however, I do feel like I have earned a trip to the spa, or something to relax. :)