A weekend of consecutive wedding shoots, of a couple of experiments, of the champagne cork hitting my forehead, and a weekend of satisfaction.

It's also a weekend of missed opportunities because my wife told me my 17-month-old daughter can increasingly string 2 words together in a conversation, or a monologue (sometimes we can't tell the difference). For example "sit....bus", "Aunty.....wipe", "read...book". I am happy that she is growing up healthily and we never give her any pressure or force her to do things she doesn't like.

However, there was one incident that troubled me a bit. Last month,she was at her gym class (not exactly gymnastics, but the toddlers get to sing, run, jump and learn to be independent and confident through some physical activities) and was interacting with one of the boys there. They were of the same age but my daughter has always been the "smaller" one in stature. She was able to identify and said "toes", "knees" and stuff, and I think the father of the boy was mighty impressed. Sadly, I think the pressure and competitive streak got into him and he said to his son:"Quick, son! What's that? Say it. Don't lose out."

I thought that was totally unnecessary and if he is going to grow up getting compared to everyone else, I think his childhood will be quite sad.

Come on. Give them a break!