Once in a Lifetime

The Dude is 8 months old today.

He has 4 teeth.
He smiles and laughs all the time.
He stands up in his crib in the morning and grins crazily when he catches sight of us.
He slept through the night all last week. This is a HUGE improvement over the very dependable 4am wakeup that has marked the previous 3 months.
He says (and occasionally yells) DA DA DA DA DA whenever the mood strikes him.
He loves a bath (finally)
He waved at someone for the first time last night. We think. He's nearly ready to 'slap someone five' (much cooler than 'high fives'.)
He has learned, within the last few days, to make a perfectly terrible squealing cry, which he uses in the evening when he's getting hungry. This, I think as he yells, is NOT attachment-promoting behavior.

I still look at him and think "Where did you come from? How did I get here?"