Jonathan turns 5!

Five years ago, Jonathan was born on a hot and buggy day in Charagua, Bolivia. How his (and our) life has changed since then! Then he was such a helpless, wrinkly little thing and we had no idea how to take care of him (next post will have a few photos from then). Now he's such an exuberant, strong little fellow...and we know all about how to take care of him. Ha!

But I will say this: he sure is easier to take care of then many other 5-year olds. We continually marvel at his appreciation for boundaries and even rules, as well as his self-discipline. He often begs for things (sweets, toys, more time somewhere), but rather quickly concedes "that's too bad" with a shrug, and moves on. Another tiny example is the 1-hour egg timer we turn on for quiet time after lunch. He obeys that thing like it's his master, and this afternoon when I forgot to set it I heard him slip out of his room and set it himself. Once it dings, he bursts out of room and plays quietly downstairs until Anna and I come down ready to face the world.

Jonathan has new friends at preschool (whom we don't get to hear enough about), but Anna is still his favorite friend and playmate. Sometimes, namely not at birthdays when it becomes evident that they're not twins (as in, not both getting gifts), I find myself thinking of them a bit like twins. The one thing I don't appreciate so much about their relationship is that he insists on speaking English to her; he'll be motoring along in Low German to one of us, then turn to her and, in the same breath, switch over to English.

Tractors are still his favorite thing, of course, but lately he's been on a "monster truck" kick. That's what this cake was supposed to be, but the cupcake wheels didn't exactly turn out monster-ish.

Jonathan almost shares a birthday with Opa, and as usual we had their celebrations together.

The kids looove to help in the kitchen (hrrumph), and here we are cutting up the strawberries and testing the whipped cream for the cake.

Anna did fairly well for herself in the gift department this year. Here her Great-Grandparents give them each a beautiful book. Anna's was on nursery rhymes, and she very ably recited to us:
Hey Diddo Diddo,
da cat and da fiddo,
da tow jumped over da moon.
The widdo dog waughed 
to see such a sight,
and da dish wan away wit da spoon!

The JD tractor lego set from Oma and Opa was a big hit!

As was the "monster truck gator" he got this morning. The thing is, it's a remote control - something he's been, shall we say, obsessed with since his cousin got one for Christmas.

Unfortunately, Jonathan has been sick on and off for about a week now and after a rough night of vomiting, still felt pretty rough this morning. But as it turns out, a remote control gator works just fine when operated from a curled up position on the floor.