16 weeks

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

Researchers believe that your baby can now understand all the basic sounds that make up his native language. Between this time and 6 months of age, your baby will develop the ability to make some vocal sounds, which means you may hear the words you've been dreaming about, namely "ma-ma" or "da-da." While child development experts say it's too early for your baby to connect those sounds with you and your partner, that won't make hearing them any less exciting.

You can encourage your baby's attempts at communication by mirroring or imitating his expressions and sounds. He may try to imitate you now, too. Say "baa" and he may try to say it back.

Reacting when your baby makes noises or tries to say something will help your baby learn the importance of language. It'll also help him better understand cause and effect. It's great for his self-esteem, too. He'll begin to realize that what he says makes a difference.

Expand on what your baby says and try to give it meaning. For example, you can say, "Yes, that is a ball!" Soon, his "ba" will become "ball."

For the first four to six months of life, your baby gets all the nutrients he needs from breast milk or formula. Still, parents are often eager to start their babies on solid food.

It's true that your baby's digestive tract is more developed now and his tongue-thrust reflex is starting to fade, so it seems a logical time to start feeding him some solids, such as pureed baby food or cereal. But there are good reasons to wait, too.

Starting solids later may cut down on possible allergic reactions, and ensures that breast milk or formula won't get crowded out of your baby's diet. And if you're hoping that eating solids will help your baby sleep through the night, studies have shown that you can't count on that happening.

The debate over when to start solids continues. If you're unsure about when to introduce them to your baby, talk to his doctor.

Elisha is getting more and more interactive and really starting to enjoy toys.  All day long he plays with, holds, and inserts into his mouth his plastic set of link alphabet letters.

It seems like he might be starting to notice when I leave, and not be as happy when I'm not around.  Which we found out by him screaming for an hour while I was at the gym last week.

We also think he might be starting to teeth and have his gums bother him.  He is drooling a lot, and constantly chewing and sucking on his hands.  Plus he has been a bit fussy over the last week, and woken up a little more at night.  So, putting all of that together I think he is teething, and I hope that this discomfort quickly passes.

Elisha and Noah love each other.  Noah loves to constantly touch and harass his "brudda", and Elisha seems to really enjoy the antics and attention of his big brother, even if it means sacrificing all of his personal space.  I'm so glad that they enjoy each other and so excited to watch this bond continue to grow over the years.

Just for fun, here's the link to Noah at 16 weeks.