Finally ONE!

Date : 30th May 2009
Time : 5:43 a.m.

Ryan finally turns ONE today. The past one year has been an exciting year. From the moment the labour pain started one year ago till the moment I held him in my arms and gave him his milk several minutes ago, before he wriggled down onto my master bed and snuggled comfortably between my wife and me, it has been amazing adventure.

When he was just a day old, I wondered how long will it take before he turns one. When he was still so fragile as I held him in my hand, I wondered when he will be strong enough to stand on his own without support. As I looked back, he has brought much joy and fulfillment to both our lives. Watching him grow and develop everyday and the new things that he has learnt is like our very own discovery channel, live and unedited.

As I read back the many posts since I started this blog in October and the many comments, advise, feedbacks, encouragements that we have received from the many mums and friends, we are glad that our lives have somehow touched and that you have been a part of this growing journey that we are going through. For that, we would like to thank you. I certainly hope that when Ryan gets old enough to read this blog, he too will appreciate all the aunties and uncles who have also somehow `watch' him grow.

Now, we are happily and anxiously looking forward to his `terrible twos'....

Ryan sees, Ryan do!

The picture above is an old picture taken when Ryan was only 162 days old. I wrote on how Ryan imitated our fingers movement then. Even at that age, we noticed that babies have the tendency to imitate adults' movement. I also remember having a post last year that I wrote how Ryan would imitate us by sticking his tongue out whenever we do the same. It was so hilarious. Thank God, he has stopped doing since and has not been sticking his tongue out to every stranger he sees on the street. Otherwise, it would be extremely embarrassing.

We had our biggest laugh a couple of days ago. We were sitting on his play mat one evening after dinner and as usual, he would be crawling all over the play mat with all his toys and his `never leave home without it' bolster. And as usual, Zoewe, our toy poodle would also always pick this time to have her fair share of fun (seeking equal attention). Zoewe, would bring her toys (usually her rubber ducky) and would ask us to play fetch with her.

She would make sure that she has equal attention from both me and my wife and take turns to make sure that we both play fetch with her. So, as usual, she brought her toy in her mouth to my wife (who was playing with Ryan) and wanted to play fetch. My wife instinctively, just pulled the toy from Zoewe's mouth and as usual, threw it some distance away. Zoewe immediately darted off to fetch. Now, Ryan was watching the whole episode quietly. What happened next was awesome. He grabbed his bolster, lift it up and threw it at Zoewe! And then he laughed!

We looked at him in disbelief! What Ryan sees, Ryan follows! We repeated the feat a couple of times and he followed everytime, throwing his bolster at Zoewe, after we have threw the rubber ducky. It was fun, but it also reminds us to be extremely careful from now onwards when Ryan is with us, else he would be picking up all our bad habits and foul language and uses them on us instead! And how could you punish him when he has been learning all those from his parents?

Bring the Pool home

We have brought Ryan for a swim at our condominium's swimming pool a couple of weeks ago. However, our doctor has advised us against exposing him to public pools due to the recent outbreak of the foot and mouth disease.

So, if he can't get to a pool, the only other option is to bring the pool home. Hence, we went shopping for a mini pool for him and found a suitable one for him at Toy`r'us. Bought a pump as well.

Since having the pool home 2 weeks ago, he has been having his weekend frolic in the pool with either daddy or mommy and enjoying every minute of it. We filled it with about 8 inches of water and let him sit in it and played with his toys. On the very first day, he gave us all a fright when for a brief second, (while I let my hand off), he slipped and went under! I grabbed him and pull him immediately but not before he gobbled a few mouthful of water! He was coughing away. I thought that he would be fearful of playing with water again. He only paused of a minute to catch his breath and within minutes was going after his toys in the pool again. What a relief. Just go to show that we have to be extra careful when we put them anywhere near water.

Happy Mothers Day

I am taking this opportunity to wish my grandmother, my mother and my wife and all the wonderful and selfless mothers in the world a VERY VERY HAPPY MOTHERS DAY.

Looking back at all these pictures taken way back with my other half so lovingly holding our son, makes me appreciate and love her even more. I must say that I am the most lucky guy on earth but then again, I am sure all the husbands and fathers out there are feeling the same way too, when they see how their life partners have blessed and complete their lifes.

Once again, Happy Mothers Day!