Things That Make Me Go "Awwwwww..."

Oliver is now 8.5 months. 
Please, Lord, don't let me forget:

• The "slap....slap" of his hands on the floor when he crawls.
• His triumphant cry when he pulls himself up and sees you watching him.
• What I call his "sweeping declaration pose:" when he pulls himself up with both hands and then takes one hand away and holds it aloft like he's about to make a speech.  "Friends, Romans, Countrymen..."
• When his cry turns into a laugh because we've started tickling him.
• When he quiets down because I've started singing "This Little Light Of Mine," or "This Little Piggy."
• His ticklish spots are his collarbone, above his knees and his armpits.  He also giggles when you gently scrape your nails up his belly.
• The "stalling engine/radio interference" laugh - when it seems like he's so excited that he can't seem to get it all out.
• The slaps-turned-high fives.  When Oliver started slapping his hand against us because he liked the noise, we would say "Slap!" and he'd start laughing.  The other day, Miss Annie mentioned that Oliver started laughing when she struck her chest over him during a diaper change.  Because we don't want him to start thinking violence is funny  (even though this seems a tad on the overreaction scale) we have started DISsuading slaps and started PERsuading "high fives."
• Oliver JUST TODAY pulled himself up on the couch and then, under watchful eyes, took one hand off the couch, put it on the coffee table and MOVED THE OTHER HAND TO THE COFFEE TABLE.  Yeah.  He's THAT advanced.
• Oliver sucks his thumb all the time.  He has a red ridge around the base of his thumb.  We should do probably do something about it.  When we feed him, he'll take a spoonful of food and then stick his thumb in.  Maybe it aids in the swallowing process, I don't know.  It's almost as if he's only taking a break from sucking his thumb to do us the favor of eating solids.
• Sometimes, when O nurses, he turns very timidly towards the boob and test tastes it.  Like he's a sommelier and just saw who stomped on the grapes.  "Nooo, thank you."
• The looooooong string of slobber that he brings to every crawlfest.
• Process of meeting new people: Step 1: stare.  Step 2: take thumb out of mouth. Step 3: bring wet hand to new person's face. Step 4: slap their cheek / pull their earring / grab their facial hair. Step 5: continue until stopped.
• When he starts yelling, we join in.  It inevitably turns into one of two contests: "who can yell the longest" and "find the pitch."
• Oliver has learned that food can be given by hand.  This means that when we give him something, he chases our fingers with an open mouth.  It's adorable.  Oh, and I don't think I've announced on the blog - he has a pincer grip and is starting to eat cut up food!  Like a BIG SHOT!
• When he gets excited, he stiffens up, goes up on tippy toes and screams.  If you are the reason he is doing this, you are sure to feel like the greatest human being on the planet.
• Everything around his height has teeth marks.  I  love it.
• If you are making noise with a plastic bag or a piece of paper, he will chase you down.
• When his Laugh and Learn Puppy starts singing, Oliver gets up on all fours and starts rocking along, grinning widely.
• Oliver's sitting style looks like a ying-yang symbol.  One leg is bent in front and one leg is bent behind.  He is amazingly flexible.
• O is starting to grind his teeth a little and purse his lips.  We think it's because he's acquired a few more teeth.  At this point, he has 2 very prominent teeth on the bottom, 1 canine, 1 front tooth and 1 more front tooth coming in.  He looks a little like this: