The birthday boy and the cake

Finally mom was able to retrieve the cake session shots from her camera. Here is the boy and his first birthday cake.

With Yeh Yeh and Nei Nei (Grandpa & Grandma - dad's side)

Pick my future (Birthday cont.)

Besides letting Changton ate noodles on his first BD, we had another Chinese ritual of birthday grab for him. According to the tradition, a set of items are placed on the toddler's first birthday so that the toddler may pick whatever they fancy. Whatever item they pick may be an indication of the child's future career. Umm, the ritual sounds great to Changton's superstitious mom! So on his BD, mami placed several items following the Chinese traditional birthday grab including a book, a stamp, a knife, a bag of rice, money, a ruler, onion, etc. She also added a few items of her own, including nintendo game, a computer mouse, and an eyeglass.

Once the items were placed, Changton was allowed to pursue the objects. Normally Changton loves to crawl and grab everything he sees. But when the birthday grab kicked off and he was free to crawl, he sat and watched the items instead. He must felt the pressure, as we all watched and cheered him on. After a minute or so, he started to crawl towards the items. He paused and examined all the items. Then he carefully used his tiny fingers to grab the PEN! Phew!! Everyone sighed!!!

"The pen means that Changton will have a career in the literacy", said Auntie May. "Yes, he's a smart boy, he will be a young man of talent", added dad who couldn't be prouder!! Mom thinks that the pen pick really suits Changton's Chinese name, Hong-Po, which means a scholar. Hong-Po was name after Nei Nei (Changton's grandma) brought Changton's date and time of birth to consult her fortune-teller.

The first pick was done. We let him go for the second pick, which determines his hobby. Changton picked the "eyeglass". As this item was added by mami, no ritual explanation for this one. So mami came up of her own, "Changton will love reading, like his mom", and "it's in the gene, what can you expect when both dad and mom wear eyeglasses!".

Changton was then asked to go for a final round. He picked a 1000 bank note. He turned to us and waved it in the air. Instead of giving a translation for his third pick, everyone begged Changton for the red pocket!! Well, who needs translations when the action was loud and clear of Changton's future!!

Happy birthday, Changton. You have brought us so much joy. Whatever you want to be in the future, dad and mom will always be there for you.

Changton's Birthday (cont)

It's a party time. Dad and mom had a big yummy cake with a cute elephant drawing and a wording saying, "I'm One" for Changton. Due to some technical problems (aham!), please revisit this post to see Changton's birthday cake.

We put a sparking-while-burning candle on the cake to get Changton's attention. Though he was looking at it, he seemed a little scare and didn't want to come closer to the cake. The HBD song we sang had finished for a while and the candle almost burned out, Changton still took no action. Eventually, mami helped him blowing the candle. The BD cake part did not seem to excite Changton. Given he likes to put just about everything, food or non-food, into his mouth, mami expected to see him enjoying his cake time. Wrong. He is a grown up boy. Changton was more interested in playing balloons, popping bubbles and playing new toys.

Mom was lazy to wrap his BD gifts, as she bought him so many things including clothes, educational toys and silly toys. She thus placed everything in a big basket and wrapped it at once. Result? Changton didn’t seem to care. Lesson learned Number Two: don’t put all eggs in one basket! Risky, yes. Too many things can be equal to nothing. Anyway, there was one gift he was particularly interested in. It’s the musical elephant from Auntie May and her families. Thank you Auntie May for the lovely toy.

Checked out his new buddy.

Mami was busy recording the video throughout the party. Then she realized that she needed one. But Changton still wanted to play. So this was the best shot she got from the birthday boy.

It's My First Ever Birthday!!

Now I have some numbers to count on!!

Start with Number One...yeah, yeah,yeah!!!

Time has definitely flied. Our little boy is now one-year-old. Happy 1st birthday to our gorgeous boy!!! Although Changton will always be our baby no matter at what age, he is now indeed a baby! To qualify for a "toddler", he has to be able to walk, right? Anyway, no rush! Mami knows soon enough you will be able to walk, and yes RUN!!

We'll be right back with more updates on Changton's birthday celebration!

A rare family picture

As dad is always busy and doesn't like to be in a photo for the same I-am-not-ready-to be-in-a-photo reason as mami, so far we have less than five family photos!! Out of five, mami likes this one. It was a very amateur snap shot but for some reasons it looks like a family portrait. Doesn't it?

(Photo taken when Changton was 4 months old)

I like a big bed

Changton loves to be in bed with his dad and mom because it is spacious, soft and cozy, unlike his baby crib. However, don't ever think that our baby size buddy only needs a baby size space. Each and every night, Changton occupies half of our king bed size!!

The walker: Mami's best friend

Mami loves the baby walker. It gives her free hands to get things done and not worrying about his potential falls. When he is in a good mood, in his walker, he loves running around and bang on the wall or anything that blocks his way. But when he isn't, he would cry and keep kicking his legs to avoid being placed in the walker. But mami manages to place him in anyway!!

Now that he is one year old, a walker serves another purpose...

CLIMBING!!!

A baby girl?

Before getting pregnant, mami always wanted a baby girl. But she was converted right after the 4D ultrasound clearly showed it was a baby boy. But somehow when people (as much as 9 out of 10) mistake Changton for a baby girl, mami (and papa) is secretly pleased;-) Why not? What's wrong with having a boy with a pretty, sweet face?

One day, mami got curious. What if she had a girl? What would her baby look like? With help of Auntie May Siao, mami got the answer. Umm....not looking so pretty!!

...too big to be a pretty girl!

Grandpa's Birthday

Ta Tuad's birthday post reminds mami of another birthday that Changton witnessed! It was Grandpa's birthday. Changton was 3 months old at time.

Grandpa donated a lot of baby blankets on Changton's behalf.

It's time to blow the candles! Happy Birthday Grandpa:-)

First visit to a hair salon

At 7.5 months old, Changton's hair got very long and messy. On our second visit to Chiangrai, grandma took Changton for his first hair cut. As mami found it's hard to let go his lovely locks, we agreed for a front trim, instead of a whole cut. Whether or not Changton would sit still during the cut concerned us at beginning. But with a help of a little toy, it was a smooth operation.

He first observed the hairdresser, and then a wooden turtle.

Here's the finished look.