April 2013

John, Larkin, and Reagan grew by leaps and bounds during the month of April. More specific details to follow, but in summary, Reagan had her Christening and has started crawling and standing up on furniture; John and Larkin are beginning to speak in complete sentences and both are showing much more interest in using the potty (especially Larkin).

Reagan Roo is totally on the move. She started off a bit slow, but after a couple of days was going after the dog bowl (yes, her favorite item to find and get totally wet), standing up on furniture (often falling over), and trying to steal John’s yellow truck (typically doesn’t end well). Reagan is the 3rd child, just like her father and Aunt Ki, so we have a strong feeling that this trend of her trying to keep up with her brother and sister is one that will stick around a lifetime. Reagan is trying her best to move on from baby food as well. It didn’t take us long for us to figure out when she was “over” basic baby food because she would zerbert (spit it out) each time you gave her food, which didn’t work out too well for our faces or clothing. Grandpa (Dan) must have gone through a dozen shirts before figuring out how to get out of the way. The zerberting might not of lasted as long, but with John and Larkin in the audience laughing hysterically, she was not about to stop.

John is becoming much more active and very verbal. He talks his way through the day, saying hello to everyone at daycare (“good morning”), while walking in the neighborhood (“hello neighbor”) or while at the grocery store. He continues to love walking his big red car down the sidewalk and likes helping build fires in the fire-pit with Daddy. He’s very good at collecting sticks and pine cones and throwing them in the fire! He seems to be following the Kindem boy’s love of building large fires. We discovered that John seems to like bluegrass and country over Pop these days. While traveling in the car lately Larkin likes to tell Daddy, “I want to dance,” so daddy throws on some music with a good beat. Larkin proceeds to move side to side or bob her head back and forth (John used to partake in this fun and goofy activity, but a couple of weeks ago John stopped dancing and we wondered why). Well, finally one afternoon while riding in the car with Daddy, Uncle Doug, Aunt Nessa, and Ki, some good bluegrass music came on the radio, and John perked up and started moving his arms all around and dancing big time. John has had rhythm since he was little so it was hilarious and great to see him move again. In typical Larkin fashion, she just stared at John with a look that said, “come on, you must be kidding me John Boy.”

Larkin officially wore undies to daycare for the first time on April 29, 2013. Larkin has been wearing training underwear at daycare for the entire month and rarely has an accident, so her teacher Ms. James and I decided to take her to the next level. She is very proud of her big girl-undies, as she should be. Larkin has learned how to pump her legs while on a “big kid” swing to help keep her momentum going. Also, while at the “monkey-park,” she has learned how to climb a very large rope structure (mostly on her own). This structure stands 10 ft. high and she was able climb up it, hang out, and then climb back down. Daddy was shocked and quite impressed with his little Lulu. Larkin continues to be an extremely sweet big sister. She wants to help with most feedings (either holds the jar/bowl of food or has complete control of the spoon and feeds her sister Reagan). She showers Reagan with kisses and even demands a kiss from Reagan each morning before leaving in the car for daycare. Larkin has become obsessed with sitting on Daddy’s side of the car, which wasn’t a problem until John wanted to sit there as well. Daddy has tried to make this a sharing thing (take turns), but she is quite strong willed and wants to sit there each and every time. Daddy is able to defuse the situation most of the time, but it continues to be a challenge.

A month of visitors…

Reagan’s private Christening was held on April 20th at the Holy Infant Catholic Church in Durham, NC. It was a very special event for our little Reags and she did quite a good job on her special day. All immediate family members of the O’Brien-Kindem Families were in attendance and a party was held in honor of Reagan at Paul’s house afterwards. The families ate great food, drank some tasty beverages, and simply enjoyed spending time with one another. It’s truly a special time when the entire family is able to be together. A small family soccer game was played by most of the kids with Doug and Kathryn as team captions. As the game went on the O’Brien sibling competitiveness was heating up until someone reminded Kat that she had just had surgery a couple of weeks prior. John stole the show by running for the ball ¾’s of the time and falling and rolling around on the ground for the rest of it. Reagan tried salmon for the first time and had a couple tastes of her first frosting. As with life these days, it was far from what it should have been, but it was still an enjoyable family event. It certainly helped that it ended up being a perfect spring day in NC.

Paul’s Uncle John and Aunt Jo visited during the month. They came bearing gifts of Wisconsin cheese and they were quite enamored by the Adorables. Aunt Jo fell hard for Reags as usual and Uncle John was quite the celebrity to John boy. John, Jo, and Papa (Paul’s grandfather) also had a nice weekend with Hap & Nan at the Lake House.

Barry and Kennette (Jamie’s west coast parents & Dan’s childhood friend) visited the next week. Both fell completely in love with Reagan and were shocked at how grown-up John and Larkin are getting. Barry and Kennette celebrated their 10-year anniversary while on the trip, but instead of celebrating at a restaurant or some special place, they spent the day entire day and night with the kids, Paul, and the O’Brien’s. We had a great time catching-up over bottles of wine and it was wonderful for them to visit.

Kathryn and Maureen had an amazing two week trip to Europe. They stopped in Paris for two nights; spent a few nights in Rome, Florence, and Venice, and even caught a show in London before returning home. They were fortunate to experience great weather (except for Paris), and they really enjoyed their mother-daughter time together, and of course, all of the amazing sights around them.

Paul took John and Larkin to Sase’s (Paul’s sister-in-law) family beach house to spend a long weekend with Pete, Sase, Lindsay, and Anna Katherine. John and Larkin love it there and enjoyed digging holes in the sand, going for walks on the beach, pointing at birds and boats going by, going on bike riding trips, and eating great food. Lindsay and AK are so patient and play amazingly well with their younger cousins and it’s great to see them together. On the last night we were there, Pete and Paul were playing with John and Larkin before bedtime and Pete decided to open one of the windows in the family room that is also a window on the deck. John and Larkin went out on to the deck and immediately started acting as if opening the window was like opening a curtain to a stage. They would walk up to the window and make silly faces or say silly phrases/words or throw their toys through the window or climb in and out and fall to the other side. Pete and I found ourselves completely entertained as we sat there in amazement for 20 or 30 minutes as their creative minds went to work. My-oh-my how J would be so happy and proud of them. Paul took a 10 minute video of this that is just hysterical.