Liam Payne celebrates son Bear's first birthday: 'You're my world'

March 23 (UPI) -- Liam Payne gushed about son Bear on his first birthday.

The 24-year-old British singer dedicated a sweet post to Bear, his son with girlfriend Cheryl Cole, on the infant's birthday Thursday.

Payne shared a photo on Instagram of Bear holding onto his thumb. The picture gives a glimpse of the star's "L" and eagle tattoos.

"Can't believe my little man is one today, where does the time go? Happy birthday son you're my world," he captioned the post.

Cole thanked fans in a tweet Thursday for wishing Bear a happy birthday.

"Thank you so much for all of your beautiful birthday wishes for Bear," the 34-year-old singer wrote. "have told him he has lots."

Payne and Cole have been together since 2016. The One Direction singer addressed his relationship with Cole in an interview with ES Magazine published this week following rumors they had split.

"The funniest thing was a week before we were getting married. The next week we're splitting up," Payne said of the reports.

"I just like to think we're somewhere in the middle. You know, we have our struggles -- like of course I'm not gonna sit here and say that everything's absolutely fine and dandy, because of course you go through different things, and that's what a relationship is," he added.