8 months old

Riley turned 8 months yesterday. It seems that he's starting doing a lot of new things in the last couple of weeks. Here are a few things that he's been up to. He "clucks" his tongue all the time. He always "clucks" in the bathtub. I'll include a video of that. When he's not "cluck"ing or doing raspberries, he's saying "hop hop hop" which sometimes comes out "op" or "bob." I'm pretty sure he's always trying to say "hop" though, because he jerks his body when he says it each time. About three weeks ago, I started hopping and saying "hop hop hop" and he started his "hop" soon after. It's pretty cute, except when he wanted to do it at 4:00 this morning and didn't go back to sleep for an hour and a half.

We've been putting him closer to places he can pull up on and showing him how to do it. Though it's not the safest place to allow him to stand, he likes to stand next to the exersaucer (much more than he likes being in it). I sit next to it with him sitting on my leg. Riley then reaches and pulls himself up. I stay right there with him to catch him if he falls. I don't think "Dada" realized that he had to watch him as closely. Yesterday, when Scott had him next to the exersaucer, I turned around and saw Riley REALLY about to bust it. Scott couldn't get there in time. Riley had actually pushed the exersaucer forward and fell on his mouth on the bouncy part pretty hard. When Scott grabbed him, Riley had an irritated face, but he didn't cry. Sometimes we worry that he doesn't feel pain like a normal person. The other day, he was sitting in front of the couch and fell back on the front of the couch. I heard a very loud "thwack." I felt where he hit and there was wood frame with no cushion. I didn't realize it was like that there. He looked mad, but he didn't cry. I'm not so excited about that. Makes me nervous he might be more risky than the normal person if he doesn't seem to be bothered by pain as much (like his Uncle Nick). Why is it that he doesn't cry when he gets hurt like that, but he acts like I'm killing him when I very gently dress him?

Riley is still fighting his naps. He's supposed to be lengthening them, but he's shortening them!! Yesterday, he took two 30-minute naps. He does sleep about 12 hours at night though (still wakes a couple times). Yesterday, he was fighting his first nap, so I put him in his crib and left the room to help him realize that it was nap time. A few minutes later, he was fussing and it sounded like he was struggling. I went in the room and he had rolled onto his belly and was in the corner of the crib looking up at me with vomit all over his face and the bed. This was so bizarre, because he'd never done anything like this before. Usually, he just rotates around on his back or side and sticks his arms or legs through the crib slats. I fixed him and left the room. A little while later, I heard the same struggling sounds. I went in, and he was back on his belly fussing.