I'm going to backtrack on a lot that has been going on and I just haven't had time to blog about it...

Incidentally, As I'm writing this, Ryder is under the table pooping. Thats his M.O. He goes off into a corner or under the table, all surreptitiously, to do his business and then comes back like nothing happened.

• Yesterday, we had a Daddy/Daughter day. It was me, Swett, James and Carlos. We took our girls to the National Harbor to the Grinch Ice Exhibit. For the most part, the kids had a great time. Zoe was not a fan of the Ice Exhibit. This picture summarizes her experience:
  
  Here are some other pics from the day:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And finally... THIS is how Dads do Daddy/Daughter day (Zoe took this picture):
  
  
  
• November 14th, Zoe and Kia made a Sweet Potatoe Pie. It was amazing!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We had a special Ryder only day where we took him to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It was really nice to get some alone time with our boy:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• On November 11th, I picked Zoe up from school. On the way home she says "I want to marry Abraham". Abraham is a schoolmate of hers. She loves him because "he's the best tire swing pusher and pushes the highest"... When we get home (35 minutes later), our neighbors kid (Jude) is in his front yard raking leaves. Zoe looks at him and says: "I think I want to marry him".
  
  
• On November 9th, I was in the "play room" with Zoe. The TV was on (Yes, we put a TV in the play room). A kids channel was on and a commercial came on. It was advertising a game called Zoobles. At the end of the commercial, Zoe says: "I'd like to buy that toy".
  It occurred to me that that was her 1st exposure to kids commercialism. I reminded me of when I was a kid and they'd have these awesome commercials of "remote controlled cars" where the car is zooming around, jumping rocks and landing on its wheels perfectly... Then, when you got the car (thanks Mom), it was not nearly as cool as the commercial.
  
  
• Halloween Pics:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• October 30th, Kia went to the "Rally to Restore Sanity":
  
  
  
  
• In October, my cousin Lindsey came to visit with a friend of hers whose name is also Lyndsey. Both Zoe and Ryder had a great time and Zoe idolized them both. Cousin Lindsey let Zoe play games on her I-Phone and Zoe was enthralled.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Zoe calls an "Ambulance" an "Alambiance"
  
  
• A while back, I came across a picture that I thought perfectly captures Zoes personality. This is an old picture, roughly around the time we moved to Virginia. I call it, "Quintessential Zoe":
  
  

It has been a long time since I've posted anything of substance... We've been very busy and tired in general. So.. here is what we have been up to of late:

Here are some Ryder updates:

• Ryder has learned to say "No!" to requests that he deems unnecessary
  
• Says "go" if sitting in the car at a stop light
  
• Other words he says: Bus, Bird, More (but it sounds more like "Me", Bike, I wanna go, Why? (he loves that one).
  
• Ryder has begun tattling on us all. If I do something he doesn't appreciate, he'll go up to Kia and say "Momma... Dada." He'll do the same to Zoe and Kia.
  
• He and Zoe get along well for the most part. They definitely love eachother but go through the usual sibling issues.
  
• Songs he likes:
  Maybe - from the movie "Annie"
  The sun will come out - also from "Annie"
  Sandy "Dumb Dog" - Yes, "Annie" again. He loves that movie!
  Buffalo Soldier - He loves to sing along at the "Ya ya ya... yayayaya..." part.
  Don't worry bout a thing
  *He also is very particular about his songs. If you start to sing a song that he isn't particularly feeling, he'll say "No". And keep doing so until you get to the song he's after.
  
• He loves to smell his feet and then he cracks up
  
• Tells the following "knock knock joke": Knock Knock. Who's there? Poo Poo. Poo Poo who? Ahhh Poo Poo. And then cracks himself up.
  
• Seems to be graduating from playing w/ Zoes ballet outfits, pink hats and headbands to playing w/ cars and choo choos and balls. :)
  
• Per Zoe who is sitting beside us eating dinner: He like to hold my hand and hug me and kiss me
  He likes to copy me; We fight when he hits me
  
• Today when Kia picked the kids up she was talking to Zoe on the ride home. They were discussing what a great Daddy then have. He works hard to pay the bills, etc... Kia said, you have the best daddy in the world. Zoe replies, "becaue he buys me presents? And if someone messes with me, he'll beat their asses."
  
• He likes to sit on Zoes back and tummy and rides her like a horse.
  
• Speaking of sitting on tummys, yesterday me Zoe and Ryder were playing in Zoes room. Just screwing around. Ryder sat on my tummy facing my feet. At the time he had one of those super bouncy balls in his hand. Out of nowhere, he decided to slam the ball down onto my... you know. I laid there writhing in pain and Zoe asked me if I was crying. That is pretty much the 1st time something like that has happened to me w/ either kid. So I guess I can't complain too much.
  
• When we drop Zoe off he says "i wanna go" and then sayhs "Bye yaya" (his nickname for her).
  
• He has been eating w/ a fork for some time now.
  

And Zoe updates:

• Zoe is learning Spanish at her school. Hope Montessori. She sings a few songs in spanish and has some basic words down.
  
• As I stated, for the most part Zoe and Ryder get along great and they play really well together. However sometimes they disagree, argue and get generally annoyed w/ eachother. And sometimes when Zoe is really tired and frustrated, she breaks down and cries really hard and says: "Sometimes its really hard to have a baby brother".
  
• A few weeks ago, we got a note from Zoes school/teacher Mrs. Dadavi. It read: "Mr. and Mrs. Birdsong, Zoe and another girl got into touching eachothers work in an antagonizing manner. Im not sure how it started, but Zoe ended up poking the girl on the arm. Fortunately, it didnt break the skin. I talked with her about what happened and how we need to use our words, because we cannot take the hurt away once it is done. She was receptive."
  
• Zoe has been listening really well and she helps Kia w/ Ryder; sometimes she undermines Kia when she has to reprimand Ryder. Zoe will come up to Ryder afterwards and comfort him.
  
• Zoe and Kia had a girls day last weekend where they got pedicures (yes, Zoe had her 1st professional pedicure) and then went to a ceramic art store and made mugs for hot cocoa.
  
• Zoe loves to make her own Salads for dinner (thanks for introducing her to Salad Grandma!)
  
• Zoe recently reunited with an old friend. Zoe met Stella in Costa Rica when she was 6 months old. Stellas parents recently moved to the area and they've had a few playdates already.
  
• Zoe often gets up in the middle of the night, stumbles out of her room half awake and summons Kia to have "sleepovers".
  
• I took Zoe to see the owl movie:
  
  Halfway through the movie she asked me when the movie was going to be over. For half a second, I considered walking out, but I was somewhat invested and just spent about $40.00 on tickets and candy. So we stayed.

And finally, an example of what a great Daddy/provider I am: We have lived in our current home for over 1 year now. Since we moved in, we've had "hot water" issues. i.e. the water is luke warm. It has really sucked. Last week, Kia asked "Is there anything we can do about the water situation?". To which I replied "No".
Well, over this past weekend, I was cleaning out/re-organizing the basement and decided to take a look at the hot water heater. And... wouldn't you know it, there is a nozzle where you can turn to turn up the heat. Who knew????
The good news: We now have hot water
The bad news: We suffered for over a year unnecessarily.
Yes, I suck.

-Ryders 19 Month Picture-

Ryders 1st Haircut was yesterday, Aug 21st 2010

Look at the range of emotions!!!
-Uncertainty-
-Fear-
-Panic-
-And... Acceptance-




And... the finished product:
Before:










After:

I'm sitting w/ Zoe while she eats dessert, she looks at me in all sincerity and says: "Daddy, when are you gonna win the lottery so I can be a real princess and you can get me a castle???".

Also: Today Zoe got sent to her room all day for pushing Ryder. She has been occasionally pushing and hitting him lately so we decided to up the punishment.

On August 2nd, Zoe brushed her teeth entirely on her own; meaning, she got the toothpaste, opened it and put it on her toothbrush and brushed em.



Ryder is beginning to put 2 words together. This morning he said "Bye daddy" as I was heading to work.

Ryder has also begun to master the stairs. We were at Uncle Rays house yesterday and he was able to go up and down the stairs on his own; which was nice because prior visits one of had to hover over him the entire time while he went up/down.

Over the past few days, Ryder seems to be weening himself off of his nighttime bottle of milk before bed.

About a month or so ago, Kias girlfriends from San Francisco came to visit:


Autie Tiana got Zoe a Giraffe and Auntie Andrea got her a dress. In the below picture, Zoe is posing w/ the Giraffe while wearing the dress:




Here they are in their matching National Zoo t-shirts:


Finally, July 5th we had dinner at Grandmas:

*Happy now Payan?

Ryder caught a bug of some sort last week and was running fevers in the 104 range for a few days. As a result, he was as cranky as possible. NOTHING made him happy and he cried over any/everything. It was brutal. His fever finally dropped and it was like Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde. It was like we got our boy back. He is once again happy and smiley.

We went to the National Zoo yesterday and had a great time.
We brought our 2 kid stroller only to wind up carrying both kids most of the way. The kids crashed hard on our way home nonethless.


Bonus Pics of Ryder chowing down on an ice cream sandwich:

Ryder at 16 months:

Ryder is beginning to repeat words.

For example, yesterady I told him to say "puppy" and he did a pretty good job of repeating it.

Although he can't yet talk, he understands a ton of the things we say to him. For example, if we say "do you want to eat?", he'll say "yah" and make his way to the kitchen table. If we say "are you ready for bed?" he'll say "yah" and make his way to his bedroom.

Zoe and Ryder are beginning to play better together as well.

Zoe can read!
Last Monday the 21st of June, we were watching some kids show and the word "Howdy" appeared on the screen. Out of nowhere, we overheard Zoe say "Howdy".
The next thing we know, she opens a book and begins to read it! Her first books were the Dick and Jane books. She is now on to reading Green Eggs and Ham.

Zoe's 1st Ballet Recital:

-Ryder @ 15 Months-
Yes, I'm late posting it... if you'd sleep through the night, maybe I'd have more time/energy to devote to ya'lls blog!

Ryder has been saying "mommy" of late. He used to say "mamma" and has switched to "mommy".

We decided to put Ryder in a toddler bed. Kia saw him trying to climb up/over his crib so we decided it was time; before he succeeds and crashes to the floor. Anyway, I build his bed and we got it squared away. After 2 nights of fighting for hours to get him to go to bed, we decided to re-build his crib and put him back in it. Heres hoping he never succeeds in climbing out!

Zoe is learning to read. She has ALWAYS loved to read and seeing her beginning to figure it out is great.

I took Zoe to Grandmas house for dinner this past Tuesday night. We had a great time. Grandpa Steve (Pop-pop) built an awesome pond in the back yard and Zoe christened it by throwing in the 1st pennies (and 1 nickel).

Zoe also had her 4th Birthday:
So far she's had 2 parties and we owe her a 3rd. Its a Birdsong thing....















Me and Ryder at the park:













Current Events:

• The BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast - maybe it will be cleaned up by the time Zoe and Ryder graduate from College.
  
• Lakers vs. Celtics in the NBA finals. Its currently tied at 2-2. Rajon Rondo has emerged as a legitimate star. Kobe Bryant has answered any questions as to who is the reigning best player in the NBA... it's NOT Lebron James, not yet at least.
  

-In The Moment-
This past Sunday, I took Zoe to see “How to Train Your Dragon”. I wasn’t sure what to expect considering our last attempt at going to a movie (see HERE). The experience was amazing! We had an incredible time.
I have often thought, but never verbalized, that one of the challenges to being a parent is trying to be “in the moment”. And, I didn’t think it was possible. I thought that being in the moment was like the proverbial carrot being dangled in front of the horse… unattainable. From the moment they are born, it seems you are always trying to catch up and slow things down.

However, I theorized, if you constantly attempt to be in the moment, you’ll have brushes with it and that's the best you can ask for. Taking Zoe to the movie disproved my theory. You CAN be in the moment, if for only fleeting moments.
To Zoe, it was just a fun time at the movie. To me, it was a rare occasion where I was in the moment. And by that I mean, I was fully able to appreciate, embrace and bask in fatherhood. I left the theater thinking “this is what its all about”.

OK, I know its been a long time since I've posted...

Lots has happened since the last post...

Some milestones:

• Ryder is now able to climb onto and off of our couch
  
• I may have mentioned this before... but Ryder LOVES bananas. He calls them "Nana".
  
• He is super fast so we have to keep our eyes on him at all times.
  
• He like sot sing... in the mornings we put on BackYardigans while he eats breakfast and when the song comes on, he starts singing in his out of tune voice...
  
• We've put Zoe in a new Montessori and she seems to like it way more than her old school.
  

Here are some pics:
Here are the kids in their Easter outfits:



And here they are with the Easter Bunny:



and a bonus Zoe pic:

And the kids hunting for Easter Eggs at Uncle Rays house:




****
Incidentally, in the place we live there is a family of squirrels that has nested behind our kitchen cabinets. Our landlords have named him "Ole one eye" cuz one of his eyes is damaged. They also call him Nutkin. At any rate, they are burrowing further and further into our home and we've asked the landlords to come handle it. They are attempting to use "humane" means to catch and relocate Nutkin.

So there is a trap in the back yard with food inside it. Here is a picture of Nutkin and the trap (note the food in Nutkins mouth):