Daniel turns one

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 17 August 2006 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

Yesterday, we celebrated Daniel's first year of existence on this earth. As relatives descended upon our humble abode and wolfed down the yummy tze char from Sin Hoi Sai of Tiong Bahru fame (they do house delivery, by the way!), Husband and I had this strange out-of-body feeling, as if watching everything through the eyes of a camera lens. One year ago, Daniel looked like this:

An alien arriving in his green robe. ("My minions, where are my minions?!") As he grew more fleshly with yummy breastmilk, I remember thinking his face & body resembled that of a portly old grandmother - always a bit frumpy and grumpy. Ho ho. See this pic for illustration:

But the little squidge grew and 'matured' and charmed us all with his wonderful antics - we were absolutely delighted when he slept through the night at 7 weeks, and thanked our lucky stars when he showed a voracious appetite for solids (even today, I marvel at his uncanny ability to chew despite having only 6 teeth!). Here's an early-on picture of Dan enjoying carrot puree:

Other milestones came and went: Dan sat up at 5.5 months and enjoyed walking immensely, before he learnt how to crawl. (Now that he can crawl like nobody's business, he still enjoys walking with assistance, but less so.) Then came the clapping, the waving, and the constant babbling. And not to mention the squealing and the shouting! I swear, vocally and facial expression wise, it is really as if he is having a conversation with you - but you just have no idea what he's saying!

It's been a long hard ride - learning to be parents from scratch. And last night, watching Dan babble with his 23 month old cousin, crawl around grabbing people's behinds, and doing all sorts of other weird and wonderful things, like climb down a step or point at things, I'm simply amazed at how God grows a child. I can't believe Dan is 1. My little squidge, who still wails at every hair cut but who doesn't need to be patted to sleep, who can chow down an entire piece of bread but still needs to be carried around as if on a throne, who can bop with the homeboys but who still needs his diaper changed every few hours, is ONE.

ONE Is such an in-between age. There's so much more growing to do. Happy Birthday Dan!

Daniel: At one, I can say "ball", "car", "flower", "momma", and "papa". Mommy's teaching me how to say "please" but I keep saying "pease".