News Flash - Baby Poop Stinks and Other Shenanigans

Coop is now 8 months old. *sigh* where has the time gone?! Only 4 months until he's one! It's just not fair!

Next month I'll no longer be able to say that he was in my belly longer then he's been out.

Coop is starting to get the hang of solid foods. So far he's had sweet potatoes and green beans. OMG does his poop stink! I knew it would stink, but it doesn't even stink like adult poop stinks. This stuff has a whole stench of its own.

I miss breastmilk poop!

He has discovered his penis. Diaper changes and bath time just got a whole lot more fun for him. Paul and I have a hard time believing that he's not hurting himself the ways he's grabbing, squeezing and pulling on his penis but it doesn't seem to phase him at all. It hurts like hell when he does that to my arm! I'm having to break Paul from telling him "NO" when he does it. Paul's starting to get it. The only time I pull his hand away is when I need to get in there to clean so I'm trying to get Paul to do the same.

He's starting to try to pull himself up on EVERYTHING now. I'm trying not to hover too much. I don't want to break his fall every time. I'm afraid if I do that he'll think it's fun to fall down (or safe) and I won't always be there to catch him. It's hard not to hover though! It's hard to stand back and let him take a spill, let him learn for himself.

We don't think he's ever going to crawl. Not a "real" crawl anyways. He has his method and it is very effective for him. He gets where wants to go very quickly. We call it the "slithering army crawl" It's so cute!

When he hears the door open in the evenings he looks now, he knows Daddy is home. And then when Daddy talks before we can see him he gets this huge grin on his face. It's great that he's learning those sounds and knows it means Daddy is near. <--- happy tears When Daddy calls from work I put him on speakerphone and let Coop "talk" to him. For a while Cooper got this worried look on his face, as if to say "Why is my daddy so small?" Now he just grabs for the phone to chew on it.

My boy is growing up. I look forward to the days that I can really do things with him, like crafts and such. I look forward to being able to put him in some kind of "class" like tumbling class or another Kindermusik so he can play with all the other kiddos. So many fun milestones have been hit in 8 months and I know there's so many more to come. Every milestone brings joy and sadness. When he learns to do something on his own he no longer needs me to do it for him.

Everyone warns you that being a parent is hard but no one tells you about the emotional aspect of having to "let go". I knew parenting involved letting him do things on his own, letting him learn for himself, etc. but I never thought it would be so hard to actually sit back and let him do it himself! *sigh*

And one more thing... Is he EVER going to sleep through the night?!