Akiva at eight months (almost)

It is completely blowing my mind. Akiva will be eight months in the matter of days. How can he be doing even more wonderful things? He held a bottle on his own the very first time I gave him one and likes sliding down the slide with his more than eager sisters. Everyone wanted to hold him going down the slide, they take turns. Now they like going down in a line. It is amazing he did not even cry when he landed in the grass. I am going to have very tough kids because of my need to take photos of every little thing!
Akiva is pretty much refusing to take food from the spoon preferring to shovel in as much food as humanly possible on his own. He has eaten macaroni and cheese, canned pears, rice, cream cheese sandwiches (without the cranberries!), boiled carrots, matzoh balls, hummus sandwiches, and of course our favorite Cheerios! He has decided that even though grass looks good it is not a great snack! He has also started drinking from a sippy cup, by himself! I went and got him one with handles so he can maneuver it better but he knows he wants to drink out of that cup! I am going to skip the bottle all together and just put him right on a sippy cup.
Akiva decided that he liked standing in his crib so he decided to do it himself. Matt needs to lower the crib in our bedroom because he is no longer safe. He has started to pull himself up on toys around the house. As you can imagine when he pulls himself up on a doll stroller the results are not what he expects.
Akiva loves clapping hands and will even do it on command, most of the time. His favorite pastime seems to be playing with his sisters or watching them play. He laughs and laughs when they talk to him or tickle him. I am sure that because of their interest in him, he will be up and chasing them around in no time.