The boy is 6 months old and he has come a long way, baby. Gone are the 15 hour crying jags and screaming fits! (I expect a return at around age 3.) Gone is the constant need to feed! Gone are the hormonal horrors and debilitating depressions that Tom Cruise claims don't exist! The kid and I have turned a corner, peeps. It may not be a sleep-through-the-night type corner, but it's still real good.

I will say that for the most part - and realizing that this will change - he is sleeping through the night-ish. He generally wakes up once either with a nightmare (what's up with the nightmares? Is it a developmental thing? I know there's a lot of harrumphing in parenting circles about whether or not infants are even capable of having nightmares but I vote yes) or with an itch to show off his newfound ability to turn on his musical aquarium. He still wakes up at 4:30 every morning so that's awful, but I've found that if I lay him on my chest and jiggle him while humming "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" it sometimes puts him back to sleep. And I will do anything if it sometimes puts him back to sleep.

Our boy is completely weaned. I'm still feeling crummy about it, mostly because of all the grossness I've been reading about formula. (The lawsuit I wrote about in my last post is legit, although very few babies have actually been sickened by the additive. The bigger culprit is BPA, that crap that leaks out of plastic. Apparently almost all metal cans are lined with the stuff. It doesn't affect adults so much - although if you want to be completely safe, Eden Organic is the only company that doesn't use it - but in babies it's a problem. Which is why it makes complete sense that manufacturers use it to line their formula cans. The ready-to-drink formula is the most dangerous. Of course for the first few months we used formula, Will had reflux so we had to use a special kind - which was only sold ready-to-drink. Apparently the concentration of BPA in the lining is really high - much higher than in the plastic baby bottles that everyone is so up in arms about. (Rumor has it, Schwarzenegger is trying to ban it in California.) The safest formula to use is the ready-to-drink in recyclable plastic, which is what Matt and I use now, followed by Similac or Enfamil powdered. Their cans are only metal on the top and bottom, unlike Earth's Best which is completely metal, all of which is more than you ever wanted to know about this topic.) Anyway, the most surprising thing about the weaning is the fact that Will seems to have no memory of what the boobs were for. Seeing as how they were such a fundamental part of his life it's sort of shocking. It must be nature's way of keeping things running. Nothing would get done if men were constantly snuffling at women's tops, hoping for boob. (There's a joke in here somewhere.)

He's also obsessed with funny things. Certain songs. (This week's top hit: Jump Around by House of Pain.) Wet washcloths. Sucking his bathwater out of wet washcloths. (Seriously, it's like wrestling a greased pig trying to get a washcloth away from this kid.) He desperately wants to crawl although he's doing a fine job propelling himself by rolling. When he's motivated - and he's always motivated - he can get from one side of his Skip Hop flooring to the other in less than 10 seconds. (I've timed it.) He also really, really wants to touch everything we'd prefer he not. (The sharp, potentially eye-gouging corners of the coffee table for instance. Wow, we really need to babyproof...) I used to be able to set the kid on the floor with some blocks so I could get the dishes done, but no more. I'm not sure what people do with their kids at this age... Stick 'em in a playpen? Do they still make playpens?

Solids are going well. He loves everything except spinach (which bums me out because I ate a lot of it while I was pregnant, hoping he'd develop a taste). Unfortunately every time he takes a mouthful he grimaces. I've taken to mixing it with something sweet like carrots or sweet potatoes so he'll gag it down. Ah yes, force feeding nutritious food! One of the many joys of motherhood!

A quick shout out to you, darling readers, for being so supportive through my... (don't say journey, don't say journey) through my stuff. It's hard to admit to feelings of inadequacy and ickiness, especially about parenting, especially when you - and by "you" I mean "I" - started out feeling nice and smug about how easy it was going to be. (At one point during a particularly frustrating pregnancy phase I actually said, "I think I'll get more sleep once the baby's here." Can you contain the laughter? Because I can't contain the laughter.)