Geez! The mouth on this kid!

Eli hasn't quite started talking yet, but has has made some pretty big advances in the mouth department over the past couple of weeks.  For one, he has become a drool factory.  About 2 weeks ago I noticed that every time I picked him up and held him in my arms, my arm would become glazed in a thick layer of slobber.  Sometimes it would be so bad that it would drip off the bottom of my elbow.  The weird thing is that he started drooling so suddenly!  It wasn't a slow build up over time, but more like his salivary glands just exploded from pressure and a geyser of drool erupted out of his mouth.  It can get kind of gross at times, but it helps to have a burp rag around at all times to keep things from getting too messy.

As Eli's drool increased, so did his urge to suck on things.  After sucking on a teat for 8 weeks, Eli seems to have learned that the best times in life are when you have something to suck on.  Maybe it's the milk-coma he sinks into after every feeding, but the kid has a heavy jonesin' for something to suck on these days.  For a while he was sucking on my bicep every time I held him and he would leave a hickey the size of a quarter on my arm, but he eventually discovered that his thumbs were more accessible and much easier to suck on.  It took him a while to get the coordination down and he would often end up fish-hooking himself, as you can see in the picture.  He's gotten better, though, and actually looks pretty cute once he gets his mouth locked down on a thumb.  Things get a little difficult for him when he gets greedy and tries to shove both hands in mouth.

Last but certainly not least, Eli has started making more deliberate noises with his mouth and can hold a conversation with you.  There are times when he is laying on the changing table and he updates me on all the exciting things he has done that day.  He has bypassed the cooing stage and has already started making grunts, squeaks, oohs and aahs.  He is even developing a laugh to go with his smiles, but right now it just sounds like a stoned surfer.  We keep reading and talking to him every day, so hopefully he will be giving full dissertations by the time he is 3 months old.