one

Aiden turned one on the 30th of August. It's amazing how quickly the year has flown, and he's so different from the rodent-like immobile blob he was a year ago. He seems to be picking up new words daily (today's word: Tassel - (Aiden pronounces it "Tass") - there's one in his room that he likes to grab when we're holding him as we search for his socks).


Here he is unwrapping a gift from the staff of Nokomai/Stereotype. Thank you all for the gifts and messages for his birthday! He had a really nice day.

One year old... gee, it won't be long before he's driving.

giggle, snort, giggle!

Everytime the camera comes near Aiden and the red-eye-reduction light comes on, Aiden grimaces, throws back his head and giggles, for some unknown reason. Baby humour is inexplicable but infectious.
It had me in stitches each time, which probably encouraged him to repeat his performance.
So that explains all the photos of his nostrils, save for a handful.

yo, gurt!

Yo, bro! Yoghurt is the shizznet. Fashizzle mah yo-nizzle, y'all.

(The above is cool hip-hop speak, which only Aiden's generation is privvy to. I think it's his way of saying "yoghurt is as fun to eat as to smear on my face. it's cold...wait, 'cool'...")

half baby, half sloth

Aiden used to fit snugly in the crook of our arms, and he's pretty much spilling out now as you can see from this oh-so-adorable shot.

a week of firsts

This is a retrospective blog, of what we did last week before it slips my mind (yes, this would be avoided if we actually blogged on the day of the event).

Last week was quite a first for Aiden:
1. Aiden meets Claire
Claire is our friends Adam & Mei's 2-year-old daughter. She is such a chatty and precocious kid, referring to Aiden as "Baby Aiden" even though she wasn't that much older than he. Claire kept asking Baby Aiden to dance with her, even though I tried explaining repeatedly that he's not old enough to even stand.

2. Aiden goes to the beach!
He had heaps of fun dipping his feet in the water and fanning his hands in the sand. There were heaps of giggles all around, which was the best part, and in a close second (for the parents) - he didn't try to eat the beach.

3. Aiden meets Abby :(


You can't tell from the photo, but Abby has the iciest blue eyes. We've heard stories from Abby's owner, Alvin, that Abby likes to chew everything in her path - not unlike Aiden. We thought, surely they'd both hit it off since they have so much in common, and we invited ourselves over for a visit.
But Abby is a rather lanky and tall dog, reaching our chest when she jumps, just high enough to lick Aiden's feet when he's in our arms.



That's how we quickly discovered that Aiden:
(a) isn't big on slobbery licks from dogs (he calls them "oooofs")
(b) doesn't like loud barky dogs
A little crying ensued, (okay, it was pretty loud), which was satiated by a desperate and impromptu soft toy from our host, a radioactive-looking mint-green bunny.
On the upside, Aiden had great fun playing with RadioActive bunny during the ride home, quickly forgetting the trauma with Abby.
I guess no "oooofs" for our home for a while...Aiden seems to have taken a liking to "mao maos" though. Stay tuned.

afternoon tea

Not the most efficient way to have his mid-afternoon bottle, but lots of fun.

messy fun

Getting Aiden to feed himself is a messy but fun business. This evening he created a smeary pumpkin artwork on the tray of his highchair.

new words

Some more new words/sounds that Aiden has picked up:

1. Wh-ssssssssshhhhhhh!!!
Aiden's version of "Washing Machine", which I'd like to add, he enjoys watching tremendously when it's spinning.

2. Ysh!
This sound is accompanied by both hands clasped on his belly and squeezing in as he says it. Like a self-Heimlich manoeuvre.

3. Zip
We haven't heard it, but Grandpa Urquhart heard Aiden say it when he was reading the "Z"page in a book on the alphabet ("Z is for Zip").

4. (Ya ya ya ya...ya ya ya ya....ya ya ya ya) x 3 minutes.
This is especially cute when Aiden is playing/talking to his toys.

5. Shaking his head
Ok, this doesn't constitute talking, but it makes us laugh. Especially when the shaking head is delivered indiscriminately.

it's feeding time at the zoo

Aiden fed himself today! That was a big messy milestone for him :)

As we were feeding him his dinner tonight, he grabbed the little jar of food, hijacked the spoon handle from my hand and scooped up food from the bottom of the almost emptied jar and brought the heaped spoon straight to his mouth.

Of course, this elicited a couple of dropped jaws from his adoring parents who immediately cooed "Good Boy!"

And when Aiden repeated his performance a few times, our cooing shot up a few octaves. (Clearly, we think he is the cutest baby in the land. Scratch that. We *know* he's the cutest baby in the land.)

on the go

and looking for trouble. His baby soft knees are pretty rough now from much crawling on the floor of our flat.