Growing Up Fast!

I do feel a bit guilty. I haven't updated Daniyal's blog on here for a long long time. In fact we've grown by so many leaps and bounds since the last entry that just a little while ago, Daniyal while coming up the stairs had the cheek to call Zehera "naughty" for closing the light he had just switched on! It's a term she uses on him often. Never the other way round. The student has indeed become the master.

Somewhere between the last entry and this, Daniyal celebrated his second birthday. In between we took one of the nicest holidays ever... to Bali (April) with good close friends of ours. It was made all the more pleasant and enjoyable because the kids were all the same age (the other parents being more experienced than us helped too!) and we seemed to be the same in mind set as well! Thereafter there was a trip to Lahore in June for Jamal's wedding. Now we are enjoying a 45 degree summer at home in Dubai!

There's been so much happening. Like I mentioned above Daniyal turned 2. I made his cake again this year, but being pressed for time, I didn't go the fondant way to sculpt everything from scratch but used conventional butter cream icing with Daniyal's lego pieces. I could have opted for more, but he's a summer baby, it's a hot month and I am learning to manage our expectations when it comes to celebratory events. So it was lesser people, cosier and smaller in scale. All in all it was a nice event. The highlight had to be blowing the candles. We did it some 10 times for the sheer joy of huffing and puffing! It was his day and we let him enjoy it the way he wanted!

After the birthday in May was the trip to Lahore for Jamal Mamu's wedding, where we were the Sarbalah. Wikipedia describes it as a nephew or cousin of the groom who accompanies the groom during the ceremony as his protector. This was news to me. All I knew was the parents of the Sarbala made lots of money. And THAT was just fine and dandy with me. Daniyal did not disappoint and we walked home that night with a heavier wallet. But more to the point, the word "sarbala" (Punjabi), "shahbala" (Urdu) is derived from sanskrit which means associate groom. The sarbala often wears a similar outfit to the groom and rides a horse.

Thank God there was no horse. That would have been very hard to handle for a parent without help. Heck, even with the help it would be very hard. So we went sans horse. However, Daniyal did wear the matching attire and we did (somehow) get him to sit still long enough for the photographer to take a few pictures.

In the absence of a nanny we had the iPhone, which bless Steve Jobs, came in handy at many an occasion. Halfway to making it to the stage for a dance Daniyal would have a meltdown and Talking Cat had to be employed to save the day. The wedding also made us realise the need for more apps as they lose utility with every play. But help it did!

Here's Daniyal examining the pictures we had on the instrument thus far. This was him killing time at the Mendhi.

Below he is dressed as Sarbala for the wedding. He looked beautiful MashAllah (*beaming parent*).

But cool dude remains cool. Sarbala, Sharbala, back at home he prefers the basis. a good old lean vest and my glasses over all other accessories. Note at large: he has broken this pair. Note to parents: Do not invest in fancy glasses with a two year old in the house. In fact do not invest in anything expensive. Period.

Frankly we think he pulls the big frames look rather well. Then again we really are biased as parents!
Master D has outgrown the sink by a bit, but we refuse to get into the tub. Access to all of Ami's toiletries, lens, lens solution, tooth brushes and face creams is far too tempting to forego for the tub's boring-ness! We have recently discovered "BUB HURLES" and we like to foam up in the sink. The bathroom obviously, bears testimony to Noah's passing. We even have the strewn animals for perfect effect.

Oh and our latest thing is we like eating the bubbles. Don't ask. He doesn't get it from my side of the family. We like our food cooked and tasty... and not in the sink.