40 weeks

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

Your baby is just beginning to understand many simple words and phrases, so it's more important than ever to keep talking to him. Give your chatterbox a head start on good speech patterns by repeating his words back to him using adult language. If he asks for a "bah-bah," for example, gently reinforce the correct pronunciation by asking, "Do you want a bottle?" At this stage of the game, it's best to try to avoid the tendency to use baby talk — it's fun, but hearing the right words is better for your baby's development.  Though it may sometimes feel silly, having conversations with your baby is a great way to encourage his language skills. When he rattles off a sentence of gibberish, respond with "Oh, really? How interesting." He'll probably smile and keep chattering away.  Soon you may notice some words or gestures you actually understand, as well as other forms of communication, such as pointing and grunting. It's important to name the objects he points at — or point out objects of your own — to help him learn the names of things.  Give your baby a play-by-play description of what you're doing — whether you're dicing onions for dinner or folding the laundry. As you put him in his stroller, say, "There you go, into your blue stroller. Now, let's buckle you in and get you comfortable. Okay, we're off to the park."  You can also sing nursery rhymes, demonstrate actions that go with words (saying "bye-bye" and waving, for instance), and play games, such as ring-around-the-rosy, so he learns to identify key words and phrases.  He'll soon start to make the connections. Before long, he'll be clapping his hands together when you do and may begin to say "mama" when he's looking at Mom and "dada" when Dad comes into the room (though at this point he's still more likely to use the two words indiscriminately).

 

Noah says mama and dada all of the time, but we still don't think he knows it's us.  He is starting to clap his two hands together when we do, or even sometimes on his own when he's having a lot of fun. 

He took his first two steps at 9 months exactly, followed by a few more each day.  Now we've seen him do as many as 10 in a row, several times a day.  He is really enjoying learning to walk and being able to stand up.  He gets a huge grin and seems to be so proud of himself. 

He's eating about the same; 4 nursings a day, a good amount of water in a cup, 3 solid food meals (consisting of combinations of tofu, egg yolks, brown rice, oatmeal, and pureed veggies and fruits), and usually one or two snacks of Cheerios.  He tried some fontina and gouda cheese this week and seemed to like them both.  Cheese seems to be another finger food that he can feed himself well, he still isn't as good with chunks of fruits and vegetables on his own.  This week he learned to drink out of a regular glass also.  I gave him several sips of my water and he really seemed to enjoy the whole process.