Wordless Wednesday :: 1st Birthday!

:: photo courtesy of Nadia Fauzi; more to come soon ::

she's ONE!!

So. Our lil girl turned ONE recently. Last Wednesday, the 25th February.

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Since Zayaan came into our lives, ours (home) has been a topsy-turvy one; to say the least. Not only have my hours and time management gone all over the place; so too have all of our priorities and emotions. When before, I only had to juggle mine, the husband's, the house and the son's needs ... I now have to juggle my daughter's needs too. When before I'd be the first and only one Zarif rushes to hug and kiss after school (only coz I insist on them, not so the Daddy), there's now Zayaan who often gets the first hug and kiss. But it's all good. It's really been a good addition to the family our lil girl is.

There's the flirtatious and contagious smile she flashes our way, a very common sight when she's up to no good especially. There's the vocab she's fast building up by the day - "dadda" for Daddy, "mamma" or "mammo" for Mommy, "abaa" for Abang, "oh nyoh ... oh nyoh ..." when she's crawling/walking away from us upon being caught for some mischief, "babohhh" (read: jatuh) when something falls or when she herself falls, "hewwohh" when we walk into a room and she's there to greet us.

A very simple 'celebration' was had on her actual birthday. The day was no different than any other - stayed at home with the abang and the mommy. After dinner, the daddy took us out for a drive. Bought the Old Fashioned doughnut from Dunkin Donuts, sat her in her highchair, took the camera out, she knew what she had to do with the camera facing her, we sang to her, she took about 5 or so bites of the doughnut, started rubbing her eyes some 10 minutes after, went into slumberland till the next morning.

A happy birthday she had alright!

she had us at long before "hewwohhh" ...

It never occured to me before this. Not when my gynae confirmed the date(s), not when she was born, not over the last 12 months (to the date, almost), not even yesterday. It really only just occured to me some moments back.

Some moments back, I only just realised how our lil girl was born in the month universally known as the month of love. Non-believers (of Valentine's Day) may well argue that every single day is and should be one's day of love. Not just that 14th day in the second month of the year. I myself do not practice and/or celebrate V-day. Back in school, there were the roses and cards and lil gifts, yes. But now, it really is just another day for us.

But that's touching on Valentine's Day. And now that you know we don't celebrate it, there won't be any telling of pretty lil 'romantic' gift or dinner or the likes to report here. It's Baby Z that I'll be mentioning here in this entry, following my 'just realised she's a love-month child' moment.

Love.

Born just 4 days short of becoming a leap year baby last year, our Baby Z has definitely filled our house and lives with a multitude of traits. To say that she's been the easiest of babies to care for isn't quite true. In fact, in a number of instances, she may just happen to be that bit more difficult to pacify and please than her big brother was at this age. But, with Baby Z, you can't not fall for her sweet ways. She's mastered the art of being manja to her advantage. None taught by us, I suppose it comes naturally to her, being a girl.

You can tell her to stop touching/pulling the things she shouldn't be touching - switches, drawer handles, chair legs - and instead of crying or protesting, often, she'd tilt her head one side and give us her wide grin. Determined, confident and sweet all at once. Love.

You jump off the chair when you notice she's 3 steps up the stairs and your heartbeat's racing with time. You call out to her and tell her to stop. To stop going up any further. She turns her cute lil tooshie 360 degrees, looks at you with her signature head tilt, does the Queen's wave and smiles. Just precious the way she does it. Love.

You stroll with her in the mall. Kind passers-by smile a bit too generously at you, you smile back but wonder why the abundance of smile from them. You look down at Baby Z and see the cause of the extra attention. Dressed almost always in feminine pink only, one leg is left happily dangling outside of her stroller and the other sitting prettily on the seat, if we're lucky, OR pulled up to her chest. Quite the acrobat she may be. Quite the pretty in pink doll she may be. But an attitude of sorts she definitely has. Love.

You have some music on. Or you enter a store and the music's playing. Almost immediately, she does this routine with her hands and wrists (mental note: better record this in camera before she passes this phase). It starts with any one hand's turning of the wrist and sometimes both hands together. At times too, a very mild but obvious enough head-banging will follow the wrist routine. That will be Baby Z appreciating the music, nevermind that her dance moves does not come with the slightest twinge of a smile. When she dances, she means business. Serious business, that is. Just moves, no smiles. Love.

You don't think about first words just yet. You walk into a shop, the shop person says "hello", you say "hello" right back. You walk into 2 other shops and the same pattern follows. You walk into the 4th shop and Baby Z says "hewwohhh". You, the shop person, the onlookers, Big Z and Daddy Z all stop and laugh in disbelief. Baby Z understood 'hello' and decided to partake in the greeting when she was just 5 mths old! "Hewwohh" then became her very first word. Love.

:: the signature head-tilt ::

Now, just under 2 weeks to her birthday (and 1st party), there's no doubting the love that we have for her. She's determined, confident, sweet, loving and funny all at once. And she definitely knows what she wants.

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How did your Valentine's Day go then?

Wordless Wednesday :: Boys + Toys ::

:: mr grungy + mr preppy ::

:: the lone one ::

:: the fallen ones ::

gotta love little man's speak!

some randomly-picked (read: randomly-recalled) mini conversations with the Big Z ...


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Big Z : hey Mummy ... if you're 30, and Daddy is 30 too, how come you're not the same size?

me : (laughing and thinking up an answer)

Big Z : ahh ... i know. coz boys can be bigger than girls.

me : u'huh. you're right. that's why. (and then laughing still ...)

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Big Z : okay Mummy, ill go downstairs and play and watch the movie (Transformers) first, then come up and sleep.

(hardly 15 minutes later, he came back up, looking all shy)

me : what's up? the movie's finished? how come you're up already?

Big Z : coz i think i miss you. i miss your face la, Mummy. so i came up.

me : (a hug i couldnt resist!)


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Big Z has lots to say. well, no surprise there! often, i'd be too tired to have lengthy thought-provoking-provoked-by-a-5-year-old-no-less conversations with him. so, this came about once ...

me : hey Zarif ... you don't have to talk all the time, ok. and don't have to ask me too many things too.

Big Z : aahhh ... ok Mummy. but i cannot do that. i have to ask so many questions.

me : okay. how bout you ask me 2 questions - one in the day and one at night. and save the other questions for your teachers in school. how bout that??

Big Z : awww Mummiieeee!!

me : (nope, that didn't go down quite well with him .. didn't like my idea)


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Wordless Wednesday :: Caught in the Act! ::

welcoming the new year ...

today, the 7th January '09, Big Z started his new term in school. his second last term at CH before starting primary school next January. where did the years go??

how have your (your child's, rather) first days of school been so far?

today, the 7th January '09, also marks exactly seven Wednesdays away from Baby Z's first birthday. where did 2008 go??

party preparations are very much in progress at Big Lime studio here at home. a theme has been decided and as much as i can allow myself to, or rather, as much as the creative mode in me allows me to, i've plans to decorate and adorn the party set-up as well as party favours to the theme. much like how Big Z's parties have been previously. it won't be quite as big as his parties though, i don't think so. but we'll see.