Aunt Karin snuck into bed with Reid and me on Monday morning. Reid giggled as Aunt Karin covered her face with kisses and knew exactly which crazy relative would do such a thing. Ken, meanwhile, was up and on his way back to Ottawa 15 minutes earlier than planned on Monday morning. Grandma Joyce was teasing me about how Ken never left early when I was going with him. I tried to share the blame with Reid but Grandma Joyce, who has a much better memory than me, pointed out that it was the same before Reid was born.

Aunt Lisa, Megan and Damien came to visit us shortly after Ken left. Melissa, Dylan and Zachary arrived shortly afterward but Zack slept for a bit in the van. Sari stopped in on her way to work. I’m a bit awed by how fast Grandma Joyce’s house can go from quiet to near-party status. Reid isn’t troubled by the all-boy cousin contingent. She has never even commented on it. Melissa seems to enjoy having a little girl around (though there is no doubt in my mind that she loves her boys totally) and Reid very much loves being with her biggest cousin. I am wondering if we will get 6 boys before a girl is born in this generation (since Dylan, Damien and Zachary are of the next generation from Reid), the way we had 6 girls before the boys started coming in the last generation. Does anyone know how to describe Reid’s relationship to the boys? First cousin once removed? Second cousin?

Uncle Chris came for lunch. I sometimes whether it’s a break from work to come to Grandma Joyce’s with so many people or if going back to work offers the break. Maybe both. Reid and I like visiting with him either way. We left Dylan and Zachary in the living room and went to take a nap in the basement. Reid asked about the boys and I said something somewhat misleading about it being naptime for them, too. Melissa said that when Dylan naps he often stays up too late but I wasn’t about to explain that to Reid or that she has to nap because the [1] Day Nurseries Act requires she does so at daycare. I need my naps when we’re on holiday - or any day that I’m able - and so Reid is stuck with napping.

Auntie M, Danielle, Reid and I picked Aunt Karin up after work to go shopping just outside Detroit. Aunt Karin was emphatic that we had to get her precisely at 5:00 and I’d originally planned to leave 45 minutes early. In deference to those family members who made fun of me, we left only 30 minutes early and ended up with time to pickup drinks from [2] Tim Hortons. I made Auntie M go in to get Aunt Karin the hope that I’d be allowed to drive to Windsor, thus extending my time on the heated seat. Aunt Karin was having none of it, though, and once I was ousted from the driver’s seat Reid insisted I sit in the back with her and Danielle. Auntie M might have slipped Reid a fiver when I wasn’t looking to encourage the request ;+)

When we got to Sulienne’s apartment in Windsor, Reid protested at having to stay without me but had stopped crying by the time she and Suli got from the parking lot into the building. Reid went out for supper with Suli and Ryan and Ryan’s mother and had spapghetti and french fries to eat. It seems an unusual sort of meal but was most pleasant, to hear Reid tell it. Reid saw Adam as well, though I’m not sure whether they spoke since he was asleep on the couch when I stopped to pick her up. Reid was watching [3] Treehouse and didn’t want want to leave.

While we were away, we paid the handsome sum of 1 penny for Danielle to ride the pony in the lobby of the [4] Meijer store. Reid rode on it when we last had her shopping there. Danielle declined the $1  [5] tv shopping cart that had kept Reid so happy in the store. I guess the 11 year difference in their ages shows sometimes. I was proud of myself for sticking to the things on my list, with only a splurge for a $5 Christmas t-shirt and a long-sleeved version for $7 for myself. I mostly picked up stocking stuffers, including [6] Barnum and Bailey animal crackers, lipstick ([7] Skittles lip moisturizers by Bonne Bell) and Crayola bathtub crayons. Stocking stuffers can be my downfall and have, in the past, ended up costing far more in total than planned. We stopped at [8] Bob Evans for supper, as we always do, and then headed back to Windsor and Reid. It’s nice to shop without worrying about how to entertain a 3 year old (not that she is rotten by any stretch) but I was still glad to pick her up from Suli’s.

Since I was still banished from the toasty warm driver’s seat, and my little peanut cried when I walked around the car to secure the car seat, I sat in the back for the ride to Leamington and Reid soon fell asleep. I was able to carry Reid in from the car, and take her coat, boots and pants off and get her into a diaper and pajamas without her stirring. I’d been worried if we’d have a repeat of Saturday’s 2:30 wakefulness.