I have not posted any of Stephen's milestones because everything is happening so fast. Even since my parents left, he has learned to hold his own bottle (feed himself) which is really nice. He is converting into a little destruction machine that only likes to break things or put them into his mouth. He can crawl up to the couch and use it to stand himself up in a matter of seconds. Then he just pulls all blankets, sweaters, remote controls, and laptops onto the floor. When he has nothing else to destroy, he can turn around and anchor himself to the coffee table, where he proceeds to throw everything within arm's length onto the floor. He can even, with great effort, get himself into a standing position in his playpen, where the divider is almost as tall as him. At that point, he struggles on his tippy toes to get his eyes above the bar so he can look at you. This all takes a great deal of effort and he is very proud of himself by the end of it.

Stephen has moved into the falling down stage of his life. He just falls down all day. In a more general sense, he fails at nearly everything he tries to do, which causes him to whine or to cry for ten seconds at a time. It seems like this is going to last a good long while. Learning to walk involves a lot of falling.

He is eating a lot of solid food and Baby Mum Mum Crackers. The high chair is getting a lot of use. It seems he is drinking a little less milk all the time, though it is hard to tell. Sometimes I feel like I am forcing the solid food on him, but he is not really gaining weight, so I must be okay.

He slept through the night nearly every day for months, but now you just never know what he is going to do. He woke up three times last night, but just needed a pacifier in order to calm him down so he could go to sleep.