Eight months... *sigh*

Max is eight months old now and in some ways, you can see that he's looking less and less like a baby and more like a little boy. But there are still people that see him and mistake him for a baby girl--but it's rare, very rare. I'm always fascinated by the knowledge that Amy was aware of this baby's gender back when she was five weeks pregnant. That's the special connection that bonds a son to a mother and watching Max and Amy is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I play with Max and I push him to do things whether I think he's ready or not. If he's not, he complains and I stop and try again later. Usually he's ok with this and we'll play and make funny noises and laugh. But when it's comfort time or late at night--he looks for mom... period. He's crawling faster and you need to move quickly to stop him from doing something he's not supposed to do--really, you have to be quick! I love watching him crawl on the living room floor because he's so quick--it's funny, he reminds me of a little crab or a beetle. He has a variety of sounds now that alert us to what he's feeling or simply what he wants.

He grunts when he's annoyed but not angry; he flails his chubby arms and screams when he's excited; he cries when he's hungry, sleepy or wet but mostly he laughs and smiles. He also does this lip-tumbling noise that usually means he's exploring something. Max mimics more now. Last week we noticed that he wanted to play with a silver Diet Coke can but didn't understand why. I gave him one and he brought the full, unopened can up to his mouth--and did the same thing I did only he doesn't understand that I'm drinking something when I bring the can up to my mouth. It was really funny to watch. He now has two tiny teeth sprouting through his lower gum that look like little rice grains. He's still on formula but he's eating more solid food now. Max loves ice cream but his little tummy doesn't because we see it later--yuk. He's reacting differently to certain toys. There are certain toys that he's had for a while and even played with them a bit and forgets about them. When I show him some of these toys again, he reacts as though he'd never seen them. It's as though he develops a new way of reacting to the toy as he develops. Occasionally he'll stand on his own now but if he realizes that he's actually standing without support, he seems to panic and fall on his diapered but, we'll have to work on walking so that he understands what to do once he's standing.