25 weeks

Here is what is going on with Noah this week according to babycenter.com;

If you want to introduce sign language to your baby, now's the time. Her understanding of language and her motor skills develop much faster than her ability to speak. Most babies, for example, discover how to wave (around 9 months) and point (by age 1) long before they can say "bye bye" or "look at that!"  Giving your baby the tools to express herself may help cut down on her frustration. While baby signing doesn't promise to eliminate tears or tantrums, babies this young have been taught to "sign" successfully. To begin, try using a hand signal every time yo u use common words such as "book" (open your palms with your hands together) or "hungry" (put your fingers to your lips). Later on, your baby will be able to express more complex ideas such as "I'm done with my juice" with a simple gesture such as putting her palms up at shoulder height.  And don't worry: Signing won't interfere with your baby's progress in learning to speak. In fact, it may actually help develop her language skills.

Your baby may favor one hand for a while and then switch to the other. But you can't really tell whether she's a lefty or a righty until she's about 2 or 3 years old.  Don't try to influence your baby's hand preference (it's determined before birth). Forcing her to use her right hand when she's really a lefty, for example, may confuse her and lead to problems with hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and handwriting down the road.

Your baby will love turn-taking games, especially ones that involve sounds and language. Let your baby be the leader sometimes, and mimic her vocalizations. When it's your turn to lead, a good way to teach — and amuse — your baby is to make animal noises ("quack-quack," "bow-wow").  One upside of these kinds of games is that they can be played anywhere. Your baby will delight in the sounds of water splashing in the bathtub or blocks hitting the floor. Show your baby how to make these fun (if sometimes annoying) noises and then let her have a turn.

Noah and I have been under the weather with a virus since Friday.  I think we are finally recovering and just dealing with the leftovers of a stuffy nose and chest congestion.  Although he didn't feel well and had a fever, Noah has still been such a happy, fun baby for the last few days.  I'm amazed at his toughness while feeling ill!  Noah is still doing great with solid food and will eat as much as I will give him.  So far he's done rice cereal, avocado, and sweet potato and seemed to like them all.  I think we'll give carrots a try either today or tomorrow.  He sits up on his own pretty well now, and will crouch on his knees and hands like he is ready to crawl.  He hasn't been that great of an afternoon napper lately, but he has consistently slept at least 9 hours (straight) per night (even when he was sick), so I really can't complain if he won't take a long afternoon nap.  This week he added a new sounds to his repertoire and now says aaa, baa, maa, and blaa, plus plenty of other squeaks and grunts.