"...and our daughter, / In honour of whose birth these triumphs are,/ Sits here, like beauty's child, whom nature gat/ For men to see, and seeing wonder at." ~Pericles
On 1.9.09 our baby girl, Bayan Aliyyih, came into the world. In case people can't see her close up we'll share things about her by blog.
5 months and counting...
Bayan Aliyyih: the blog
Dear Friends and Family (incl. Mlle. E. Hai),
We are extreme novitiates at photography. We are extremer novitiates at blogging. And we're even extremer notiviates at rearing infant girls, this last proving a great impediment to improving in the former disciplines. Thus our plans to share pictures of our baby girl arrive slowly and with meager prospects to the virtual press. We'll try to put pictures, stories, apologia, explication and more up over the next few days and give you an insight into all things Bayan. That last is an Anglicization of a Persian/Arabic literary joke, since the Bayan is the book of "all things." So feel free to retreat one sentence and become amused. From this point on the blog inclines itself to present the last things first.
Bayan in playland While traveling out of town this weekend, Bayan and I discovered an indoor play area for toddlers that featured giant fruits and insects, all covered in foam and overlaid with some sort of shiny, semi-slick, semi-tacky material. She could not get enough of these things! The middle picture shows Bayan making her sign for "more", which she kept doing intermittently as she climbed and buzzed around the giant kiwis, watermelons, butterflies, ladybugs...
Random pics left: Bayan and giant tomato (and her New Year's beads) middle: "Heidi", starring Bayan Aliyyih Gamboa right: War wounds--during her illness, just after they took tubes and bottles of blood from her little arm :(
Here's our fearless child in the middle of a busy Italian restaurant in Manhattan during the heart of the dinner hour on Friday, practicing going up steps.
Bayan turned one year old on Saturday. We hosted a gathering to celebrate her and little people generally and Bayan greeted her well-wishers like a champ despite being a little under the weather. Since her birthday, however, her sickness has taken on the nasty sign and symptom of fever and lethargy and the pictures below belie her current state. :( We're hoping she bounces back soon and takes an interest in food, drink and restful sleep again.
Birthday girl
We were so wrapped up with talking to all the friends at the party that we hardly took any pictures (the one above is one of a few). I had to recreate the scene the following day...
AM photo shoot
PM photo shoot ...with Bayan in her new Ecuadorian sweater with a hood that deserved its own profile picture.
We're a little behind on catching everyone up as always. Below are pictures of Bayan celebrating her first Gregorian New Year's Day and her first Christmas. New Year's
Christmas Bayan with her presents. She got a pair of awesome (and sparkly!) purple Chuck Taylors from her cousins!
Bayan's first Christmas in New York--complete with a stroll through snowy Central Park and a walk down 5th Avenue with all the fancy window displays.
Bayan loves books To say that she loves to read would be misstating it, but she genuinely seems to like books--a lot. Below is Bayan with her prayer book, her dad's Norton Shakespeare, and one of her chunky cardboard books.
Bayan loves her ah-ma It makes sense that Bayan would love the person that's helped foster her love for books...and watches after her, and cares for her, and plays with her...all day...everyday!
Bayan loves ... Christmas tree?? We recently attended a wedding where there was a Christmas tree full of lights and ornaments that Bayan just couldn't get enough of. She also couldn't get enough of exercising her newly mastered skill of walking (see video post). She looked mighty cute that evening.
