A year on...

About a year ago I used to take R to our local Starbucks for a little caffeine fix in the morning every once in a while. This was when he was about 8 months old.

Back then taking him out meant him staying in his stroller and me trying to relax but really just barely containing my anxiety.  This is because sometimes being out with a baby is a bit like being out with a bomb that might detonate any minute to become a screaming, crying, yelling, pulling and banging little meatball.

                   a là this lil monster 

A year has since passed and I am amazed by the remarkable advancement in R's ability to adjust to life as an aware and responsible part of society, where he understands that behavior described above is not socially preferred, and is able sit relatively still and talk in a moderately controlled volume whilst inside an indoor coffee shop.

Today we had a wonderful time playing with his Pokemon stickers and sharing a garlic herb bun. 

Boo hoo hoo

R cut his hand yesterday. I'm not sure if it was with his 'Spot can count' picture book or something else but it sliced a nice piece of skin off his palm and at first he was just staring at it, kind of bewildered, which is why I noticed him in the first place, then his shock turned into a tremendous bout of tears and shiver as he realized what had happened (I'm guessing the pain also kicked in right about now). This is a far cry (pun intended) from the brave dude who usually laughs in the face of needles, smirks at the sight of cliffs (or ends of beds really but what's the difference) and snickers at the sound of a barking dog (ok I exaggerated some but let it be known that he's not one for crying on mummy's shoulders over a little pain). I'm guessing the fact that he's probably way past his exhaustion limit is also the reason he was so worked up but funnily enough, the next day, as he catches sight of his now Anpanman band-aided palm he would burst into another episode of young and the tearful for a good few minutes.

This made me wonder, is R growing up by gaining more long term short term memory, or is he becoming more chicken?