8 month update

I actually have thoughts percolating for non-directly-baby-update related blog posts but haven't had a chance to sit down and sort them out into something semi-coherent!
My sweet son is 8 months old today! Truly, nothing has cemented into my brain how fast time flies like having a child. I don't know if it is because he changes so quickly and grows so much, or what...but the time seems like it has slipped away at an ever-increasing rate. I look at his baby pictures and barely recognize that tiny newborn. Of course, I think he has only gotten more adorable with time, but it sure is a bittersweet thing!
New things he is doing:
He sits up very well by himself now. He definitely still can lose his balance and go toppling over, but I "trust" him a little bit more. He can also play with toys while sitting up-so fun!
He DEFINITELY has "being left" anxiety-which is kind of funny given that we don't really ever leave him! If he sees us walking away, the world ends. (sometimes even if Daddy walks away WHILE he is being held by Mommy or vice versa!!) The "nice" side of that is that he definitely knows who we are and will reach for us or try to move over to us, which is really sweet. :-)
He laughs and smiles and babbles a lot more. In general, he is just a lot more interactive, which is so fun! I especially love it when he lets loose with giggling and belly laughing. I keep trying to get a video, but he usually stops by the time I get the camera out! But him being happy and laughing just fills our hearts to overflowing!
He rolls as a means of locomotion now-and he can also kind of "squirm" and army crawl to get to things. I think real crawling is on the horizon...oh boy, we are about to find out how not childproof our house is!
He likes to eat paper. I don't know why.
If we are drinking water, we HAVE to share it with him. I'm not sure why water is so awesome, but the world ENDS if we don't give him some!
He has discovered crying/throwing mini fits as a means of expressing displeasure. I'm not super thrilled about this, but I guess at least he is letting us know!
He hugs and kisses now-which is SO precious and melts my heart every time.
I'm trying to teach him some signs-I'm not sure if he has the motor control yet, but we'll see if he picks up on them!
He has a new habit of waking up to pee at about 4 AM. Not my favorite thing ever either, but that's okay-everything is a stage, and I am so aware of how fast the time is flying and how I will miss his current stage's joys when the struggles are over!
I think he is growing again. It seems to me that he is getting heavier (I would guess he weighs in the 25-27 lb range now). Even the Ergo isn't super comfortable for me anymore!
He has 2 teeth that are now quite well defined. They are VERY cute but sometimes painful!
He goes to bed on his own quite well-usually around 7 PM and he typically stays down until I wake him up right before I go to bed to eat (that way I get at least some sleep before his first night waking!).
He eats solids pretty well-mostly fruits and veggies, though he does get some legumes in there sometimes. He's gotten really good at gumming/chewing things and then swallowing them.
He can ALMOST get the cheerios into his own mouth. ;-)
I think those are the major changes...we continue to enjoy him more and more. Parenthood is definitely not a walk in the park in the sense of being easy (or even fun all the time) but it is absolutely one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me!