He's a maniac, maniac on the floor

I'm such a blog slacker. I will blame it on Max. Anyway, it's been a month since my last post and we've just been trucking along. Max is now 8.5 months old...... I still can't believe he's that old. He is ornery as ever. He is into EVERYTHING. I can't take my eyes off of him for 1 minute without him getting into something or hurting himself. He is currently taking his morning nap and that is the only reason that I am able to sit down and write this. At any given time, there are at least two bruises on his head/face and there may or may not be a scratch or two as well. He is a maniac! He crawls sooo fast and pulls up onto EVERYTHING. He cruises along the furniture and sometimes gets REALLY brave and lets go............. and then WHAM! He has fallen over and added to his bruise collection. He is getting better about catching himself as he falls though and lately will fall on his butt or brace himself with his hands so that breaks his fall for the most part. He is a dare devil and tries to kamikaze dive off of the couch and ottoman all the time. He listens REALLY WELL let me tell you.................. when I tell him no he crawls faster towards the object he is not supposed to have or he throws a fit. He thinks it's a game when I say "Max, no!" He smiles and ignores me. When I go after him, he crawls as fast as he can, usually laughing along the way. He loves to drag out all of our DVD's and scatter them about. He thinks he is part puppy and I am constantly taking shoes out of his mouth and trying to keep him from eating Leo's dog food and splashing in his water. One night he figured out how to unscrew his bottle and dumped a full bottle of formula on my new rug. Earlier this week I pulled him away from the tv stand approximately 5 times and then on the 6th I gave his hand a little swat and he started spitting. Yes, spitting. When I pull him away from something and sit him back on the rug with his toys he usually arches his back and starts whining. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. We have our hands full that is for sure. He is stubborn and strong willed and very persistent. I say he has 2 personalities: sweet and mean. There is no in between. He doesn't care when I tell him no or attempt to discipline him. It doesn't seem to phase him at all. However, when daddy tells him no... the world is ending. I am going to be the mom that has to threaten "I'm going to call your dad!" on a daily basis. I can already tell. Apparently daddy is more intimidating than mommy. That, or he has just become immune to me and my attempts to corral him since he is with me 24/7.

I thought that babies got easier as they got older?? I am an idiot. It is much more difficult now than when he was a stationary newborn. But also, much more fun! Some days I miss when he was teeny tiny and wanted to cuddle all day.... but I do love his ornery personality and the fact that we can play and really interact now. I hear him upstairs squealing right now... not crying, squealing. He loves to squeal and scream. Guess that means he's ready to get up. Let's see if we can make it through the day without acquiring a new bruise or bloody lip.... but I'm going to go out on a limb and say no, that won't be possible...