Today was wonderful. Paul II is still cruisin around like no tomorrow, but he took a new route. Instead of his usual path, past his toys and to the left side of the couch, he came to the dining area from the right side of the couch. That might not seem like much, but it means he's becoming more confident and curious with his surroundings. He's also checking out the hallway now, so I'll probably get a gate, since I can't close the laundry room door. Thankfully his room is the first one, so I might placed the gate between his room and ours, so he can play with the foam bloacks on his floor if he wants to. Also, he has a few toys and books on the bottom shelf of his bookcase.

It was even adorable when he changed his mind today. He came into the dining area again for a bit, glanced at the kitchen and decided he wanted to play with his toys again and crawled back to his big play blanket. He made a very conscious decision and I loved it.

The absolute best thing he did today, was eat a biscuit. I've been trying for a while to teach him how to hold a biscuit and feed it to himself. But he was like his father and lazy, so I always had to hold him for him. He finally understood today and did it for himself!

I called Paul I over and we just stared, big goofy grins on our faces. Once he had the concept down, he decided he loved that little cookie. He them proceeded to crawl all over and play with his toys, but never let go of the biscuit, sucking on it between playing.

I finally had to pry the soggy, falling apart cookie out of his firm grip when he began leaving a trail of soggy cookie all over. That prompted a bath a some more fun with his bath toy. It was wonderful as usual. I'm just so gosh darn proud of him.

Yesterday was an insanely busy day. It was hubby's birthday and I took the baby an hour away by train to Heidelberg to get stuff at their PX. What an absolute waste of time. Everything I needed they didn't have. The two gifts I bought for hubby, I could have bought here. So I came home with a bad attitude and a sore back. I carried Paul II in the carry sack the whole day and he's getting heavy. Then I had to get a birthday cake and dinner finished.

But one good thing came of it. Paul II's train ride. On the ride there, he fell asleep about half an hour in. It was so wonderful. I sang to him and his little blue eyes just stared up at me in awe. At one point, I must have blinked, because he was suddenly asleep. Cradling him in my arms, I couldn't get over how dear he looked. He hadn't fallen aslep in my arms since he was about one month old. It was wonderful.

Then on the way back he was so grown up. Since the train was pretty empty and I didn't have to share a seat with someone across from me, I placed Paul II in the opposite seat. He sat up well and like a big boy. Then he would turn to the window and place his little hands on the arm rest and stare out the glass. Sometimes I couldn't tell if it was the passing scenery or his reflection he was reacting to, but he was giggling and squealing like mad. It was so cool.

I learned today, I am never going to host a birthday party for my son with more than 4 or 5 pre-schoolers. I went to the library on base and read a story and did a craft with 30 of the little monsters. It was a nightmare. Fortunately my boss is only going to have me go once a month and I figured out how to make it a little easier next time.

It was pretty bad on its own, but then I had Paul II with me, as my friend was busy with a class until the story hour was over. So in between breaking up squabbles and making sure everyone had their supplies, which there weren't enough of to begin with, I had to watch over my son.

Well, since he's crawling more now, he figured all those kids would be fun to play with. It seemed like every five minutes I was bending down, grabbing him in the crook of my arm and plopping him back in his corner. I have never had such a mental drain in my life, I was THRILLED when it was all over.

I finally received a toy I ordered to our German address today. It's a Fisher-Price tub toy that sticks on the tub wall. Paul II was so excited about it. When I first started bathing him, I had to play with it about 20 times before he even noticed it. You pour water onto the toys and they spin, flip or dribble. Well, he decided the water wasn't working well enough and started spinning the cup on the lobster himself. He LOVED it. He would whack the cup and watch it spin, giggling like mad. Granted, the way he was giggling like it was the greatest thing in the world, was proof he was tired, but with a giggle like that, I wasn't about to stop his fun just yet.

I turned on the video camera and caught the fun on tape. He was so excited, he didn't even see the camera to give it a blank stare. Unfortunately, as cute as that clip is, I can't put it online for my family. Someone will report me for posting child porn, because that's how extreme people have become these days. He's almost 8 months old and nothing was showing on the camera, but he's a naked child.

I remember 20 years ago, when it was fine to take bathtub pictures of your child, as long as they were really young. Now, no one will develop any naked baby pictures and confiscate the film. Ridiculous. Oh well.

Tomorrow will be a busy day for us. He'll be turning 8 months and it's Daddy's birthday. So we have to catch the train to Heidelberg and do a little shopping at the big base. I want to get a good computer game for Paul's gift, as well as some things for around the house.

I have come to a new stage in parenthood. The freaking out phase. We had it all planned. My husband and I were leaving our son for the day with a lady I used to work with. I had no fears and was okay with them being alone. But to make my husband happy, I was going to stage a "pick up" by our friend. Meg was going to stop by to pick up a video and really be checking in on Paul II.

I had the GPS all set with all the museums we were going to visit and we hopped on the train for a 30 minute ride to Mainz. When we got there, we called Meg, but she couldn't do as I planned, as she was out of town. Oh well.

Then I called home to make sure Paul II and his sitter, Sarah were fine. No answer. I left a message on the machine, realizing I hadn't told her where the phone is and it's hidden from sight by the computers. Still no answer. Okay, she's probably chaning his diaper or in the bathroom.

I try back a few minutes later. No answer. Paul is anxious and so am I, but we go through one museum and give Sarah some time in case she was busy. Half an hour later we're done in the museum and try again. No answer, but the answering machine keeps picking up.

At this point every possible negative thought is going through my head and I'm too far to run to my son. My husband is equally upset. So we begin calling everyone from his unit with no luck. It seems like everyone must be at church. We're about ready to call his Company Commander and have him knock down the door with the MPs. Finally we get a hold of someone and have him check on our son.

He calls us back and tells us everything is fine, the phone is just broken. A small weight lifts off our shoulders, but we're already back in the train station, tickets in hand and we're WAY too spazzed to hang out in Mainz any longer. So about 40 minutes later and we were home.

Yeah, the phone had died. It's really messed up and now it's working again. It's like it gets surges occassionally and you have to shut it off for a day. Well, I won my battle finally with Paul. From now on we take our son EVERYWHERE with us. We'll try the babysitter thing again sometime, but not for a long while.

It was a good thing we came home though. About ten minutes later he finally sat up. Sarah said he'd been doing it all morning. We were so proud.

I'm also working on walking with him. He takes tentative steps, then tries to take huge ones and loses his balance while I hold his hands. It's really cute.

Well, it's official. I have birthed a vampire. When his top right canine came it first, I figured, okay, that's weird. But now that his top left canine is his second tooth, I've begun to wear tutrle necks and ropes of garlic. I'm not religious, but I'm seriously considering crosses around the house.

Okay, so I'm more saying aww, how cute, but there's that thought in the back of my mind.

I tried the Zwiebach toast again today. It was really funny when I popped it in his mouth and he just sat there with it hanging out. I went through the motions a few times, where I put the toast in his hand, moved his hand to his mouth and tried to get him to feed himself.

Honestly, I just don't get it. He'll shove anything and everything into his mouth right now. Except tha darn toast. He just looks at it blankly. Oh well, we'll just have to keep working on it.

He crawled into the kitchen yesterday, while I was in the bathroom. But today, I actually saw him do the whole trip. After I put him back in his play area, he made another trip. Both times he went straight to his Exersaucer and reached up to play with the toys, while lying on the floor. The second time was funny though.

The Exersaucer was close to and my sneakers were against the wall. He tried to crawl between the two, to finish his journey. Unfortunately the soles on the sneakers caused some difficulty and held him back. I've never seen him so ticked off before. If I spoke baby, I'd swear he was cussing.