May 2013

It’s been an especially rainy spring for North Carolina. Typically we are preparing ourselves for a drought, but this year it feels like we are living in London or Seattle. Very strange indeed. However, the weather doesn’t stop us from spending many of our days and hours outside. The trees, birds, grass, and occasional sunshine certainly helps the mind stay at ease & allows the kids to expand their creative minds and very importantly, release their energy. John enjoys getting wet & most of all enjoys jumping in and throwing sticks in the puddles. He gets great joy in walking back & forth over puddles and likes to look inside all of the water valves along the sidewalk in our neighborhood (hopefully a spider won’t get him). Larkin is much less pleased with getting wet and wants a hooded jacket on & finds it quite unacceptable when her shoes get the slightest bit of water on them. Reagan seems indifferent with the weather and simply enjoys watching her older brother and sister play. John and Larkin also love taking turns pushing Reagan’s stroller down the sidewalk. Although it scares us adults from time to time when they refuse to allow us to help, we think little Rea enjoys the competition that ensues over who gets to care for her. As long as Reagan is a part of things, she is happy.

Larkin is completely potty trained, which is very exciting! She goes #1 & #2 on the potty (seriously a big deal, YAY Larkin!) and gets a cracker each time she goes #2. Paul doesn’t give them sweets yet (at least not very often), and they are salt fiends just like their mommy & daddy (shocking), so a cracker has done the trick. John is halfway to being potty trained, but he is just not totally ready to commit yet. He doesn’t mind getting his pants changed multiple times per day, as seems to happen with boys, and he’d much rather continue playing than have to go inside to the potty, so it’s still a work in progress. However, John gets very jealous of Larkin’s crackers, so he does go poop somewhat frequently. He’s a sneaky boy though so you have to watch him closely, because on occasion in order to get his cracker, he has been caught claiming Larkin’s success in the toilet as his own. Ohhh, John Boy.

Larkin is becoming a little rebellious when it comes to her crib. Larkin’s crib is right next to her dresser, which in recent weeks has proved not to be the best location. Larkin uses a boppy (pacifier) during nap time and night time. However, she typically loses her boppy once each night and she will relentlessly call for someone to bring her a new one or climb on the side of the crib and grab a spare from on top of her dresser. Well one day during naptime, Dan couldn’t find Larkin on the video monitor, but as he panned up, he saw her with the top part of her body in the top drawer of the dresser. He yelled upstairs and Paul ran into the room where he found a terrified little Larkin Lu stuck in the top drawer of the dresser. Thank goodness the dresser is bolted to the wall! Daddy explained how dangerous that was and told Larkin that she needed to stay in her crib (a strategy which has worked in the past). When the same thing happened the very next day, Daddy decided it was time to move her crib away from the dresser and cross our fingers that this would solve the problem. But low and behold, the very next night, Dan & Paul wake-up to a very loud thud. Dan pops out of bed and runs into John and Larkin’s room to find Larkin sitting on the floor staring up at him. The poor, determined little thing must have been reaching for another bobby, but found the floor instead. Perhaps this bought us a few more months until the inevitable move to big kid beds? We shall see…

Reagan has reached a whole new level of interaction with her brother and sister. John enjoys being chased by and chasing Reagan. She loves it when he tackles her to the ground and lets out a huge belly laugh every time it happens. Reagan is a speed demon and might actually crawl faster than John and Larkin can run at this point (although Larkin would never admit it because she takes pride in her skill of being “reaaaaaaalllly fast!”). Little Rea is standing very comfortably now and is probably only weeks away from having her first, unassisted steps. Reagan enjoys pulling all the books and toys off of the book shelf, playing with cars and trucks, and likes to look at books with her doting caretakers. She is speaking so much more these days, saying and waving “hi” to almost everyone she comes in contact with, and saying “dadadadadadadada” over and over again. We have come to the conclusion that when she repeats “dadadadada” it means she is quite happy and has given that particular activity the “dada” stamp of approval.

As expected, Mother’s Day was a tough pill to swallow this year. Paul decided it was best to do something in honor of Jamie, something that Jamie would have loved to do with her children, so we gathered for a Durham Bulls game with many family members and friends. Jamie loved baseball & dreamed of taking our kids to lots of games. Her spirit was strong on this beautiful spring day (very well could have been the prettiest day of the year). In true Kindem fashion we found a great tailgate spot to congregate at before the game. This allowed the kids to run around and play and the adults to hang out, snack, and drink some cold beers. John kept quite busy, convincing any and everyone in sight to give him more French bread with brie (yes, we’re quite the fancy tailgaters!) and Larkin hydrated herself by eating an entire watermelon. Reags occupied herself by going after the watermelon bowl, taking fashion shots with her Uncle Pete, and basking in her popularity as she was passed from one adoring person to the next. The Bulls lost, but it was nice to be outside, nice to take the kids to a sporting event, and nice to be with friends and family. This, plus a later trip to a UNC baseball game with Nana and Boppa has had John and Larkin talking about baseball ever since. We love and miss you so much J!

Hap & Nan took a much needed vacation to Spain, where they spent two weeks traveling the country side. They traveled by their stomachs and updated the family on a daily basis with all the different delicious meals they were having.

Hap & Nan also took John and Larkin on their first camping trip. They have a pop-up camper and did a two night stint in Wilkesboro, NC. They had a great time, but fully admitted that John and Larkin may be a little young for camping. The hourly stops at the bathroom were a large part of this. They loved being outside, throwing sticks into a nearby lake or stream, and being in nature. It was their first of many camping trips to come.