Liam's First Birthday

Liam's first birthday was on Thursday. To celebrate Soph and I took him to the National Zoo and Aquarium. He loves watching Koshka and Holly (my parents' dog) so we thought he's probably enjoy watching some big cats and other animals! We toured the entire zoo, stopped and had some lunch, and then toured the aquarium. Liam wasn't quite as excited about the animals as I thought he would be - he had been a bit off-colour all week, as had I - but he still seemed to enjoy himself. His favourite animals to watch were the monkeys (I forget which species) flinging themselves about all over their enclosure. However his favourite part of the day was the aquarium; not because of the marine life but because he got to crawl around on the carpet and climb the stairs! Liam takes great pride in his mobility. My favourite animal was the giraffe. It's always surprising exactly how big they are, even though you know they're the tallest animal in the world!

Yesterday we had a small birthday party for him with our family (plus one guest each for Soph and myself!). Liam had a wonderful time being the centre of attention, and playing with his toys, both old and new. My parents brought over a wooden block trolley that I was given for my first birthday. Being over 30 years old it first needed to be restored - a split in the handle has been fixed, and the blocks repainted -but Liam just loved it, zooming back and forth across the room and taking out the blocks to chew on them. My favourite present that Liam received was the rescue boat and helicopter - boat actually floats! - from Hamish. It's my favourite mainly because Liam had a distinct lack of bath toys and had been getting a little bored in his baths of late, but this should keep him entertained nicely! He hasn't quite got the idea of presents yet, it will probably be his next birthday where he gets excited about them! Liam also had his first ever taste of cake (a wonderful barnyard-themed cake made by Soph) and despite being a bit wary at first, he was noticeably rather enjoying it in short order.

I've certainly had a wonderful first year with my little boy. I love watching him at play, crawling and walking (with support) everywhere and experimenting with everything. I love that we can play games together now, like throwing a ball to each other, and I find it amazing that he's started to play peek-a-boo with me - hiding down behind the armchair and then looking so ecstatic when he pops up again. And with his first word and first steps to come, I imagine his second year could be even better!