See the transformation?!
We got him the DVD "Hop" months ago basically as a bribe for staying in bed at night (yes, we were that desperate) and he loves it so much that he insisted he wanted a "Hop" birthday cake. So we cut up the cardboard case and stuck in on the top of a cake. He loved it!Aside from his love (addiction?) to video of all sorts, Jakob is crazy about cars and trains and buses and trucks (okay, hard to find a little boy who isn't). We try to get him to play dress-up with his sister and wear nail polish, but he won't have any of that girlish stuff. Oh, hello? Can you believe this?
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Annika is all about dolls, stuffed animals, dress-up, nail polish, princesses, swirly dresses and pink, pink, pink. Again, hello? Can you believe this? The "I love pony" part, however, I encourage whole-heartedly! 
Miss Bossy Pants drives her brother crazy, but they do have fun together a lot of the time. Annika can be very sweet and patient and loving with Jakob (when she wants to be!) and Jakob loves snuggling with her and giving her big hugs. They've turned into wonderful playmates. Even thought they are only technically a year and a half apart, you can see on the left how Annika is basically a 50 year old trapped in a 4 and a half year old's body. It's got to be genetic right down the Lester/Veldof line of women. She's basically a duplicate of Jerilyn's mother. Luckily, Jerilyn's mother is wonderful, so we lucked out. :-) In this photo she's waiting patiently to find out if she broke a toe (she didn't!).
Jakob is pretty much a physical replica of Mama Anna. You could take a photo of Anna when she was his age and Photoshop out the dresses, and there you'd have Jakob! He's already a born actor, performing whenever he can with a flourishing imagination. He loves Buzz Lightyear ("To infinity and beyond," he calls out) and Spiderman - and there's still Thomas on his short list of faves.
Annika doesn't do as much imaginary play, but does spend a lot of her time drawing. We inherited a kid's size art table that we keep in the kitchen and never a day goes by when she doesn't draw. Art at school or ECFE is always her favorite activity.
We've seen her social confidence build in the last few months and she now has several good friends and instead of hanging in the back is now more apt to be leading a group of girls onto new adventures.
There's our update! Happy summer everyone.
