Parker An turns 8 months old tomorrow. He is developing so quickly, it’s awesome to watch. Parker’s developmental accomplishments now include:

• A tooth! His first tooth is currently breaking through; it’s just far enough along that I can now feel how very sharp it is. I guess the sport of chewing on daddy’s nose and fingers will have to end.
• He can now pull himself up to a standing position on lots of different things: toys, his step-stool, and me. He’s working on pulling himself up using the crib slats, but since they are vertical it’s a little harder. He has no idea what to do once in a standing position, but he seems to enjoy just standing there and supporting himself on whatever object he climbed.
• He’s crawling pretty quickly. His crawl never developed into a full-fledged, all-fours crawl. He still just launches himself forward with his arms. It’s reminiscent of an inch-worm.
• If you hold his hands while he is standing, he will take steps. He really wants to walk, and I don’t think it will be too long before he figures out table-walking.
• He’s eating pretty much everything. He’s had pretty much all the veggies and fruits, barley, oatmeal, and rice cereals. I even make him a special treat once a week of shrimp blenderized with rice cereal. He likes to gnaw on teething biscuits, and will gnaw on a banana if you hold it at his mouth. He is very attentive when I eat, watching pretty much every movement.
• He knows lots of things by their name, including ceiling fans, Lexi (our dog), picture, bottle, eat, car, light, hand, etc…
• He now knows me by three names: Ba (Vietnamese), dada, and daddy. He will look at me whenever I say any of those three words.
• He gets excited when he sees a picture of grandma and grandpa, or the one of he and I that was taken professionally.
• He weighs almost 16 pounds.
• He is still sleeping through the night, from about 7:30 PM until around 5:45 AM.
• He likes to watch the aquarium.
• He’s mimicking some sounds, but nothing is very consistent, yet.
• Sometimes he sleeps in my bed (maybe twice a week – just to mix things up and continue to encourage good attachment), which he seems to enjoy, and will often nuzzle up into me as he falls asleep. He snores sometimes, which is really cute when the person doing it is only 8 months old.
• He’s more discerning about what he laughs at. He’s still a very happy, smiley, laughy boy, but he no longer laughs at every odd noise or face I make. It takes more work now to elicit those giant dimples.

He is still the best thing on Earth, and I cherish every minute we spend together.