I always kind of wondered what anybody would use the poo emoji for, but then I became a parent, and now I wonder how I ever lived without it.

Which leads me to this: Alex has started eating solid foods. Rather than a careful plan of how to introduce various foods at various times, graduating from rice cereal to plum-sauce to meat-paste, we instead went with more of a “eh, toss him a leg of whatever we’re eating and let him gnaw on it” approach.

I am told I am supposed to call this “baby-led weaning” instead of the more traditional name of “laziness”.

Alex LOVES being in charge of eating his own food. He has no interest in eating something from a spoon, unless he can grab it and pull your hand into his mouth himself. So far his favorite things are steak and strawberries (no word on how he feels on caviar, this guy). He doesn’t necessarily get a ton of food this way, but he’s definitely getting SOME food (see emoji above).

No crawling yet, but man he seems like he’s just on the verge (I have said this every day for like 4 weeks). He honestly seems like he might be up for walking before he gets around for crawling. He does roll all over the room, but so far he’s stuck in reverse and mostly just gets stuck under the couch.

He’s putting himself to sleep in his crib now, and that went SO MUCH EASIER than it did with the other two, that I’m almost afraid that by mentioning it here I have already jinxed it.

In other words, things are going well, moving right along, nothing to see here. Don’t worry: it’s still plenty of work, and plenty overwhelming, but you know.

How bad can your life be when you have plenty of uses for the poo emoji?