Daniel before he turned ONE

This is a post all about Daniel and what I remember from the weeks leading up to his first birthday. I hope to document some things for myself and share some photos of my gorgeous boy with you at the same time. The first thing that comes to mind is that he is a happy little guy that I love to bits.

Thanks to GoGo Daniel is addicted to a dummy - when he was newborn and she was visiting us she made sure he grew to love it - I must admit that at times I've been very pleased about this as it can be a real life saver. He only takes it at night now but he needs it to fall asleep which I am slightly concerned about. There was a time when he found all kinds of replacement soothers around the house during the day but thankfully that is a thing of the past now.

I officially stopped breastfeeding Daniel at the age of 11 months. I took the gradual approach and since I introduced him to a bottle ages ago he did not mind the transition at all. He now has a 200ml bottle of formula at bedtime and another one in the morning. He takes the rest of his liquids - cows milk, water and rooibos - from a sippy cup .

Daniel has 7 teeth and is always eager to brush them. They arrived ages ago and in pairs: bottom right (13/12), bottom left (23/12), top right (6/2), top left (13/2), next to top right (5/3), next to top left (8/3) then next to bottom right (25/5) but its friend is still missing. I keep thinking he is teething - as all the signs are there - but no teeth have popped out lately.

When it comes to eating I don't have anything to complain about. Daniel has a healthy appetite and happily eats anything we give him. He goes mad for yoghurt so if he needs a bit of encouragement all I have to do is just add a bit of plain yoghurt. Jungle oats and cheese of any sort always go down a treat too. And he never turns his nose up at a sarmie.

Raisins are one of his favourite snacks. As his fine motor skills started developing he got pretty good at picking them up one at a time and popping them into his mouth. Now he eats them by the handful. He also enjoys any kind of fruit offered to him and he will do anything to get his hands on a biscuit but droewors definitely wins hands down. On more than one occasion he has even fallen asleep while chewing away on a stick.

This set of photos was taken just after he started walking on his own. It definitely is one of the cutest milestones to watch unfold especially as their confidence improves daily. I love the Frankenstein pose, the look of determination on his face and the sense of achievement that is evident afterwards. I can't help but smile when I see these photos.

As I've mentioned before, balls are Danny's favourite toy in the whole world. If he has a ball to play with then he is happy. Maybe it's because we've developed quite a collection over the last few years and he has always had plenty to choose from. It seems like he has a good ball sense already but more about that another time (so that I can show off some video clips).

Daniel's gorgeous smile and expressive blue eyes are enough to make our hearts melt. He also has a funny, bordering on ridiculous smile, where he narrows his eyes and bares all his teeth with his head tilted at a funny angle. I think it all started months ago when he first got teeth and I used to say 'Show me your teeth' when trying to take a photo. You gotta love it.

Danny is a real little character with, dare I say it, a stubborn streak. At least he knows exactly what he wants and is good at making sure everyone else knows it too. It's hard not to give in to him when he looks up at you like this.

Daniel has a mop of beautiful blonde hair that is just starting to curl up at the edges. I'm so glad that we didn't cut it when it was going through the akward stage. Now I'm thinking that I will keep it long until we go home in December.