Growing like a Weed!

Eli is now 5 months old. He is about 26 inches tall and 17.5 pounds. He looks a lot like Ted for the most part. At this point, it looks like he is going to have my dad's eyes. Right now he is jabbering away. He makes a lot more sounds than Margie did. He actually does a pretty good job mimicking sounds that we make. Like his Uncle Morris he is already trying to say a few words. A few weeks ago (at about 4 1/2 months) He woke up from a nap crying. When I walked up to his crib I said "Eli open your eyes I am right here". He opened his eyes, smiled, and said "mama." So sweet! While he had said mama a few times before I didn't really believe he knew what he was saying until then. Last week when Ted was changing him, he grabbed his arm and said "dada." So it looks like we are going to have a talker on our hands! Eli is rolling over some. But more than that he uses his feet to push his self where he wants to go. He is also trying to sit up but doesn't quite have the balance down to sit up on his own for very long. I think he is so long and so heavy that it is just hard for him not to fall over. He enjoys playing on his activity mat kicking the toys hanging about. He LOVES playing with Mr. Moose or his Eric Carle caterpillar. Eli also enjoys taping on the piano keys on one of his baby toys. He is still not sleeping through the night but if I am lucky he will sleep about 4 or 5 hours. In hopes to get him to sleep longer, we started giving him cereal about a week ago even though I had really intended to wait until he was about 6 months. Once he got the eating thing down he seems to really like it. However, it is not really helping to improve his sleep time right now. I am reading the book "No Cry Sleep Solutions" that a friend recommended. Hopefully by next month I can report a full night sleep for all!