33 weeks

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

Your baby may be creeping (pushing himself around on his belly), crawling, or moving about by bottom shuffling — scooting around on his posterior using a hand behind him and a foot in front of him to propel himself.

Creeping is your baby's first method of getting around efficiently on his own. Usually, he'll first learn to pull himself with his hands and then get up on his hands and knees. Then he'll figure out how to move forward and backward by pushing off with his knees. (A "combat crawl" is a variation in which one leg is the pusher and the opposite arm the lead puller.)

All of these variations on crawling strengthen the muscles that will soon enable him to walk. Whichever mode of mobility your baby's using, it's fascinating to see how he solves the problem of getting around.

Your baby may be able to pull himself up to a standing position while holding on to furniture. In fact, if you stand your baby next to the sofa, he may be able to hold himself up, although he may be hanging on for dear life.

At this stage some parents put their children in baby walkers, but that's not a good idea. Walkers are unsafe: Your baby can use a walker as a stepladder to reach things he couldn't normally get to, such as a hot stove or bottle of bleach. What's more, they discourage floor play, which helps him learn to walk by giving him opportunities to crawl, pull up, and cruise while holding on to furniture — all activities that lead to walking.

Your baby's newfound mobility means that he's now entering the land of bumps and falls. These are an inevitable part of childhood, and although your heart may occasionally skip a beat or two, try to enjoy watching your baby explore his surroundings and discover his limits.

Restraining your innate desire to protect your baby allows him to grow and learn for himself. However, do make every effort to make your home baby-safe. A good way to do this is to get down to his level to find the possible danger zones. Secure fragile objects so they won't topple, for example, and keep rickety furniture in rooms that don't get much baby traffic.

Now's a good time to move drapery and blind cords out of reach, pad sharp coffee-table corners, install toilet-seat locks, relocate hazardous houseplants to higher ground, lock away poisonous cleaning supplies and medications, cover electric outlets, and secure safety gates at the top and bottom of each staircase.

(a pic of all the cousins when we were in Ohio for Christmas)

Elisha is doing great!  He is so laid back and easy going.  Very rarely does this poor child get a nap that doesn't get interrupted because I need to wake him up to leave the house, or he wakes up from hearing some loud noise from his brother playing.  But despite all that, he remains so happy and cheerful and never seems to be disgruntled at his interrupted sleep.  In general, he tends to take 2-3 naps a day, although the first one is often a very short one on a car ride somewhere.

He is still enjoying 1-2 meals of solid food a day and nursing every 3-4 hours.  We usually do banana and yogurt for his late morning meal and some type of vegetable and rice cereal for his late afternoon meal.  I have yet to see this kid seem to act full or refuse food.  He always seems to eat as much solid food as I'll give him, even if he just nursed.  I've seen him eat a whole banana, and some yogurt in one sitting, and that just sounds like a lot for such a small person, with such a small stomach.  I tried giving him some Cheerios to eat this week, but he didn't really seem to know what to do with them even though he saw me and Noah eating them.  He kinda just mushed them around, gagged a little, and then spit them out.  He doesn't have any teeth yet.

We already have the sense that Elisha is an extravert, and very engaging and relational.  When Noah was this age, I remember him wanting to get everyone to look at him, but once he had their attention he would look away and carry on with some display of behavior that was a show for anyone he could get to watch.  With Elisha, he makes eye contact and tries to engage everyone, but then holds it.  He wants to stare deeply into your eyes, continuing to engage you.  

He rolls all over the place to get to what he wants and he is doing a little scooting and a lot of rocking up on his hands and knees.  He loves his jump up and spends multiple hours a day swinging and bouncing around in it.

Within the last 2 weeks Elisha just started sleeping in the crib in the room with Noah, so we are no longer prisoners in our own home, unable to use the kitchen and bathroom after Elisha is asleep.  So far things are going pretty well with both boys sleeping in the same room, but we haven't quite figured out whether it's better to put one of them to bed first, or to put them both down at the same time.

Elisha and Noah love each other so much.  They love playing and rolling around on the floor together.  Despite the fact that Noah constantly harrasses Elisha and invades his personal bubble Elisha is always noticeably happy when Noah walks into a room, he is always so excited to see him and watch his shenanigans.  

Here is Noah's update at 33 weeks.