Many-month update (a blog in progress)

There has been so much happening at out end... that, peppered with a good old dose of procrastination and laziness... Daniyal's blog has been lagging by quite a few months.

The first happy update is that Daniyal has grown a full head of hair. (Thank God). It looked pretty bleak for a while. With Fatima Burki recommending a complete shave, Baba opting for regular oiling and myself saving towards a long-term hair transplant fund, but joy, the hair has finally made an appearance. Now all we worry about is styling it in a way that is acceptable to both father and mother.

Those who know the father intimately must know that his obsession with hair is nothing short of Samson-ian. The turn of the lock and the twisting of the strands is a complete art form (bordering on its own ideological movement). So my standard flat-wet-gel-look for little boys is met with frequent persistent resistance. We are still in the process of evolving the next-Elvis-for-babies look. Please stay tuned for updates!!!

That aside, Daniyal has also been steadily growing a vocabulary(MashAllah). Though "keys", "cake", "shoes", "eggs" and "toast" still sound like Parseltongue, we are slowly learning to make the phonetic distinctions.

The cutest rendition however is of our gardener, Mohammad's name. He varies between a "Maa-Mud" and just a simple "Oud" but Mohammad doesn't realise that he owes his job to the fact that our son can (almost) pronounce his name. The garden had taken a turn for the absolute worst and we were set on showing Mohammad the door, but somehow Daniyal took a shining to the chap, and well, we sort of kept him. Who knew Daniyal's leanings towards the underdog?

And before I forget, we are still breaking teeth. In sessions of three and four. Nights for a week or two are miserable, then there's respite before the trial starts a new.

...The picture below captures (mostly) my feelings on Daniyal's teething, but the kid expresses it better!



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I re-read the older post and decided chronologically IS the best way to go. Daniyal has learnt to distinguish between "babies" and adults. He's also picked up "Nano", "Nana" and "Mamu". However, now all men with glasses are "Mamu"... especially airline stewardesses. I am still trying to figure out the rationale behind this. "Nana" works until both my father (Baba) and Zehara (the Help) are in the same room. Then there is a bit of confusion. Oh an we have achieved self identification with "BABY". That's him showing off on the left.

We can also tell nose, ears, cheeks, lips, teeth, fingers, hands and feet apart. Yes, the phD of babyhood. But we NEVER perform when needed, so please don't bank on a show and tell!

We travelled to Europe to be with Daniyal's cousins. We covered Germany, Prague, South of France and Monaco. But that is a post in its self, so we'll leave it for later.

We've also been getting lots of visitors. Some in succession, others over spurts. Daniyal's grandparents came over for two weeks in September. We were sans help and their coming was a huge relief for all... especially Ami. We got some serious downtime, and Baby D got to know them better.

We took some lovely pictures while they were here.

There's many more... but it borders on vanity, so we'll spare you.

We had a wonderful Eid in Dubai in November. Lots and lots of people came over and Daniyal dressed to the T's in traditional attire. He was however, in a NASTY mood on the day itself on account of teething. Distance, time and a good old foot massage has rendered the misery lesser in memory!

Here are some pictures:

...And then we have been travelling. There was a short stint to Karachi, Bahrain and then Lahore. All over weekends. We were travel weary by the end of it as the weekends came in quick succession! But each was worth every second of it. Karachi was Firaz's (a friend) Nikah; Bahrain a delightful beach holiday and Lahore, Jamal Mamu's engagement!

I've posted pictures from Karachi below.