Happy Birthday Zed...

Zedder is two years old today...TWO! Ask her, she'll tell you. Of course, I could mumble the same old parental crap...where did the time go, she's getting so big...blah blah blah, but the thing that stands out the most is that two years have gone by and we haven't buggered this thing up. She's a smart little girl. She's confident, and curious. She's happy. Somehow, June and I have managed to sneak through two full years of hitting all our shots, not turning the ball over, and never calling a time out when we don't have any left. Two years is a long time. There aren't many things that I've ever done for two whole years, let alone avoid catastrophe.

Happy Birthday Zedder, I can't believe we haven't ruined you yet. You're either awfully resilient, or we're better at this than we anticipated.

Here are some of my favorite things about you from the first two years...

- how you say, "Oh, Daddy," and smile wide whenever I'm being ridiculous.
- how nothing on the planet is cooler than doing a few laps around the house naked before bath time.
- you're 'Pops' imitation.
- how you jump.
- that little stuttery thing you do when you're brain is working way faster than your mouth.
- the pleases and thank-yous.
- how you frequently exclaim, "I've got an idea!"
- the way that you devour books.
- your boundless affection for Mathilda and Woody.
- that you can watch Madagascar two hundred and nine times and still want to watch it again.
- the look on your face when you anticipate something.
- your Christmas infatuation
- how you apologize sometimes if you bump into me, or step on my foot, "I'm sorry Daddy."
- when you call a basketball court a basketball apartment or a basketball carpet.
- how you check yourself out in the mirror.
- how even the bastardized songs that you butcher are still just about the cutest thing I've ever heard.
- that you love Super Grover.
- how crazy your hair looks when you wake up, and that you don't care.

Happy, Happy Birthday Zo...you're everything you were supposed to be and about ten times more.