Mia has been gone this week visiting Grandma and Papa Hyde and while it’s nice to relax without the responsibility of being a parent, the house is too quiet and and I’m really looking forward to having her back. She recently made the transition from crib into a “big girl bed” and the photo is of her while helping Mick to paint it.

I also uploaded about 40 new photos to Flickr if you haven’t seen them already.

When this all starts its about as hard to learn and understand as Elvish in Tolkien novel – but with time and a good amount of paying attention you start to figure it out.

With this comes a challenge: Can you match the toddler speak to the song titles below that Mia requests over and over?

1. Bom Bom Ding
2. Do bop a do bop
3. Hammerhamham

Answers:

• U Can’t Touch This
• I Can See Clearly Now
• Orinoco Flow

Good Luck.

For the past couple of years the top entries on almost every search engine were related to a soldier by the same name who had died in Iraq. This was quite eerie when it first happened because the soldier also happens to be from Colorado. Since I switched to WordPress I have noticed my ranking climb higher and higher and now I am the number one ranking on Google, Yahoo, and others.

While doing this I thought I would see where Mia and Mickie ranked. They were number one as well which wasn’t a huge surprise because those names are less common than Josh. What was surprising was the text that went along with Mia’s entry.

So when she’s 15 and being belligerent I can pull out this picture and let her know that at one point the biggest search engine in the world had a conversation about her underwear as it’s number one ranking…

In case you didn’t read it, google is referencing a post I made a bit ago about how on a trip Mickie and Mia switched suitcases and ended up with each others clothes. You can read about it here.

Fortunately these things are volatile and should change soon.

I understand that we shouldn’t tie firecrackers to a cat’s tail, but boy would it be somethin! No seriously I like most animals but I draw the line at giving them more special treatment than most humans. Since my birthday is coming up in a few months I wanted to give you all a head start on my gift. Don’t bother getting me the vegitarian starter kit because I would much prefer this t-shirt…

Click for larger image

Oh, and in other news Mia recently converted to Judaism…

Today you turn two. I can’t believe how fast it has come. I always hear other parents older than me talk about where the time has gone, and even though I roll my eyes at the tired cliche, it is very true. I still can’t believe God would allow me to be responsible for someone so precious. I pray every day that I will be a better dad than yesterday.

You have taught me so many things already. I have learned how to have more patience, I have learned to be gentle, I have learned to keep an eye on you at all possible times…and I have learned to love more.

I can’t imagine life without you. Just a couple weeks ago you and your mom were gone for several days. I thought at first it would be nice to have some time to myself to get things done, but there was an incredible emptiness in the house. It was then I realized how much I love you and how much I love being a father.

Your sense of humor is amazing. When you fall down particularly hard you look up and say, “bonk” and then keep on doing whatever you were doing. And the cool thing is, you know when you are being funny. You know that every time you put that bucket on your head and run into things your mom and I will laugh our heads off.

My heart wells up with pride every time I see you accomplish something new and you never cease to amaze me. Just the other day you climbed all the way up the ladder at the park with no help, you can change a DVD in and out of the player and then proceed to naviagate the menus to get it to play…(what???). You will always amaze me and I will never stop being proud of you.

My favorite thing however is when you say “Daddy lay down?” which translated means: “I’m not quite ready to go to bed yet so will you lay down with me for awhile?” And we do. You tell me stories about your day and I sing your song. You just recently have been handing me a pillow saying, “here you go buddy.” That cracks me up too. And after we have laid there awhile you stand up and give me a big kiss, normally on my chin and say “own bed?” which I hope means: “Thanks for hanging out with me daddy. I feel safe and loved now and I am ready to go to sleep.” Maybe.

I love you so much and I can’t wait to see what you will do and become in the years ahead.

Happy brithday princess.

love,
Daddy.

Today at Wendy’s Mia decided that everyone in the place needed to be told “bye.” And it was not just an ordinary “bye.” It was a “people in Mexico heard her yell BYE.” And she had to do it over and over and over again! And then if that wasn’t enough, Mickie asked said they were going to pray before they ate and Mia folded her hands and closed her eyes – and then proceded to want to pray the rest of the meal. I guess she could be doing worse things.

Too bad I missed it.

“ByE!” BYe!” “bYE”