Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!!!

I turned one yesterday!!!!!! It was such a lovely day. And we had such a great party. Mom, dad, Cookie and me and look at the size of the cake my parents ordered for just the four of us. They must be really hungry when they were ordering the cake. Cookie and I were only interested in the cake. My parents asked me not to eat too much cake, but I've learned from my experience that advice from your parents is like Shakespeare. It sounds good, but doesn't really mean anything.

This dancing may be the result of too much cake. Although, as you can see, I'm already a better dancer than my dad. Cookie is still learning. My mom, on the other hand, is an excellent dancer. Oh, and I wasn't really crying. I don't know how it got there.

Cookie is having her piece of cake. She's had an ice-cream, but never a cake before, so like a meditating monk, she is totally focused on the cake and of course, I wanted my share. But, my dad thought that I had already had enough. May be he was right, did you see me dancing in the above video?

Here're some of the pictures of my first birthday. It was a Winnie the Pooh cake which is keeping up with my dinner plate theme and since my mom is interested in interior designing, she cares a lot about things like "harmony" and "synergy" and so on and so forth. My dad doesn't. He just cares for the cake. I wanted to try the swing on the cake, but it was a little too small.

Mom, the cake and a dog. The three most important ingredients for any great party.


These are just the after effects of a party.

Okay, I know what my dad is wearing is not very fashionable, but neither is my dad. The thing is that he was wearing this blue apron at the hospital when I was born and he decided to wear it on my 1st b'day. He says that he permanently "borrowed" it from the hospital. We're kind of sentimental people.

Our next door neighbors Kalyan Uncle and Swathi Auntie had thrown a party for their friends and during the party, they surprised us with a b'day cake for me. And I gladly obliged by cutting it. See, I got to cut two b'day cakes within couple of hours. I'm so lucky, right! Not only was I the youngest at the party, but also the only sober person at the end of the party (I was allowed only couple of sips of soft drink). It was that great a party.


Here we have Swathi auntie and my mom is holding Fiza. You can't see Kalyan uncle because he took this picture.


Pallavi auntie is helping Swathi auntie. Did you see the size of the match box? It was almost as big as me. Also, notice the matching patterns in the sweaters my dad and I are wearing. It wasn't a coincidence.

Like uncle, like nephew!

We Gondalias have always been nature lovers. What my Harsh uncle had done 32 years ago, I did it couple of weeks ago. Who doesn't like grass, huh?

Baby's Day Out - with Mom!

The day has started - all sunny and everybody smiling.



Here's the visual tutorial on how to kiss your mom in two easy steps.



One color (red) of New England fall.


Meeting with the tree for the first time.


My own amusement ride!

What's better than to learn to walk from the pros? Don't ask me what Cookie was doing 'cause I had my own problems to focus on.

Having fun with my parents and friends.

My mother's feeble attempt to make me wear shoes. Obviously, she hasn't had much practice doing that. And I'm fast and slippery. I can tell you right now that she is going to have a lot of troubles when I'm 15.

Here's the answer to an age old question. What do guys do on saturday morning? The answer is, watch cartoons, which is what my dad and I are doing - watching Donald Duck cartoons. If you notice, I've also learned to say bye-bye, although not too many people come to our place, so I don't get to practice much. I can clap, too. I've also learned to say no-no, which should be a big help soon when my mom will try to feed me broccoli.

I'm getting a massage from my dad, which always makes me smile. Tinkori makes me smile, too as long as I don't hit it on my head. Also, my dad kept trying to keep me from going to the balcony. What's the point of having a balcony if you're not going to let your only son go there? In addition, I've figured out how remote control works, although in this case I was using the wrong remote for the TV we have in the living room. And when that didn't work, I tried the American way, which is if something doesn't work, bang on it.

Here's my latest friend. Her name is Theresa and she is our upstairs neighbour. She gives me cookies every time we go to her place, but I don't see them once we come to our home. I wonder who eats all those cookies. She is 82 years old and I'll be 1 this month. But, what's 81 years of age difference between friends, right?

These are our next door neighbours, Kalyan uncle and Swathi auntie. Besides my parents, I spend the most time with Swathi auntie. I see her almost everyday and on the days, I don't see her, I miss her. They also have a beautiful fish tank, although I can't reach it yet. They are from Andhra Pradesh and you should see my parents' faces when Swathi auntie and I talk in Telugu.