I can do it mom!

Eli has been very serious about feeding himself lately. In the past, it was more of an interest rather than a need. Now, each meal is an opportunity for Elijah to show off his skills and I must say, he's pretty good at it! He feeds himself about half of each meal now.

Another thing we've introduced is art. Eli has been very interested in pens. It's as if he already knows what their purpose is. He loves to snatch the pen out of my hand while I'm writing and then tries to do it himself. So last week, I bought him some colored pencils and sat him down at the table. He spent a good 15 minutes actually drawing with the different colors. Sure there was a some chewing on the pencils, but he did end up with a little piece of art work. Sadly, I do not have it because, well, he ate it.

What's so funny?

Eli is a little joker these days. He actually plays jokes on people, well usually on me. He likes to feed me whatever he is eating. This usually means I am stuck eating a soggy cracker he's been chewing on but I don't mind. I feel it is important to play the game and encourage his little growing mind. Sometimes he will act as though he is about to feed me something, but then at the last second, he throws it into his mouth and laughs. It's so hilarious! Sadly, I do not have this on video. What I do have is Eli doing his silly laugh, which I am positive is a fake laugh. It is definitely forced. He throws his head back, scrunches his nose (as seen in the photo above), and cracks up. He loves doing this to random people lately. We still can't figure out why he does it, but is always makes us happy. I like to think he enjoys making others happy.

Eli walks...but really this time.

I know I've talked a lot about Eli's walking skills, but he is really walking this time!!! Yesterday, he stood by himself for almost 2 minutes without falling. His confidence level has gone way up. Sadly, I do not have any great videos of his skills, but these are still pretty cute. In the first one, he takes a few steps. The second one shows him pushing his little pink car around our back porch. It was Clara Stom's and she was gracious enough to let us borrow it for a few weeks. Anyways, just wanted to share a few snipets of our time with our little guy.

Thank you for humoring me...I know it can sometimes be Eli overload here on the Robbins blog:)

Mr. Independent

This weekend, Eli became very interested in feeding himself. He understood the steps and was very careful to scoop his spoon in the food. Since he has become fascinated with eating, he must have his own spoon and be given plenty of chances to do it all by himself. Meal times have gotten much messier but cuter, too.

Our weekend was slow and quiet. Dan got two Malaria tests. Thankfully, they were both negative. Still, he is feeling pretty ill and stayed home from work today. We made a new batch of chicken stock and laid low.

With Dan being sick, I played the single mommy/nurse. I have to admit, I wasn't happy about it at first, especially since Eli was having major teething meltdowns around the clock. But thanks to God's grace and strength, I was refreshed and reminded that I do all things for His glory, not my own. Needless to say, I owed Dan a lot of apologies by the time Saturday afternoon rolled around.

Today is recovery day. Eli and I will make it to every store in Lilongwe and I hope to get some laundry done. Oh, laundry note-our washer is broken again. It flooded our dining room and pantry last week. As well, we cannot use to dryer while Andy is cooking or it will make his breaker flip. So, it's back up the hill we go...only 7 more weeks of this and counting down...

More pictures from the weekend:


Eli passes out after fighting a nap for nearly 40 minutes. This boy is very stubborn. I often get frustrated, but it is good for me to remember that I was just like him as a baby...just ask my mother. I think I put my mother through way more than Eli has put me through. I should be thankful!

This video is just a gift to you this Monday morning. Hope it makes all you Eli fans out there happy.

11 Month update

Can you believe it? I'm 11 months old today!

Eli is 11 months old today. WOW, WOW, WOW....I never thought I would be one of those moms who is always commenting on "how fast goes by" and "how quickly your baby grows" but here I am. I really cannot believe how grown up Eli seems to us now. He no longer fusses to get what he wants, but he actually communicates by other means. He is getting better at signing and I am excited to grow in that area with him. Eli loves to make funny faces and can mimic almost anything you do with your lips or with your hands. He's a little copy cat.

His favorite games are peek-a-boo, chase and bonk. Bonk is where you hit your heads together and say "BONK" while doing it. It's a cave man type of game, but he loves it. Lately, he likes to play chase where Dan actually chases him into my arms. It's a great game that helps him to practice his walking.

Speaking of walking, he has taken 10 steps now. Sometimes he is really interested in walking, other times he actually goes from a standing position down to his belly so he can army crawl. I guess this makes sense as he knows he can get somewhere while crawling, but with walking, he can only go so far.

Eli loves a challenge....

This is his new found challenge:

One new thing that I am enjoying is cuddle time. Eli never was the cuddle type. He would rather be on the floor exploring than cuddling in your arms. Well, in the last month, Eli has really wanted to just hug both Dan and I. He spends more and more time in my arms with his head resting on my shoulder. It's really sweet. Sometimes while we are playing, he will climb into my arms and give me a hug-AWE! He's really never been affectionate before, so I am loving this new change in him.

Eli is an active, curious and joyful boy. We just love having him around. Our house is filled with baby giggles, the best sound in the world.

Eli says his favorite word "uh oh"

That's the update for now. Bye Bye!

More Eli cuteness

Well, Eli has been so cute this week and I have to share these with someone! I know there are those out there who really just read this blog for Eli. If you're one of those people, this one is for you!

Lately, it's been quite chilly in the mornings and evenings. We've had to add extra blankets to our bed. Eli is still able to hang out in just a diaper though during the day.


Eli helps me gather my French papers. By gathering, I mean he actually took them out of the pile and then evenly distributed them throughout the house.


This is Elijah's concentration face...he found a little hole in the side of the coke crate and had fun indexing it for a while.

Eli helps me brush my hair. You will notice that he hasn't learned how to be gentle yet.

Well, I did it. I finally cleaned off that book shelf. Now, Eli can climb up and freely touch, throw and eat anything he can grab off of that shelf. Our little boy is growing up so fast!

Just a side note: My friend and fellow ABCer Amy wrote an excellent post about people's ideas of Africa. She really spoke to a lot of the things that I've been thinking about lately. We've had a lot of teams come to do great work here, but most of their comments are the same. Read Amy's post and you will see what I am talking about.

I take it back

Just after I posted yesterday about Eli not walking, he started to walk as if to say "mom, I CAN walk the walk!". The video I have included is pretty cute, although it doesn't show all of his skills. He has taken up to 8 steady steps. Near the end, he always dives forward though. It's pretty funny. It's as if he just gives up and wants to be hugged and praised rather than taking a few more steps. Either way, this is the beginning...I guess we'd better clear off those reachable bookshelves!

Is Eli's hair getting redder or is it just me?

Eli walks!

This is sort of a silly video, but I wanted to show the grandma's and grandpa's, uncles and aunts (and whoever else is dying to see Eli in action) how cute Eli is when he is walking around with mama.

Spring break 2009!!!!

When ever I think about spring break, I think of all the popular kids at my high school who would drive down to Florida to spend spring break on the beach while I stayed at home and worked extra hours at a Thai restaurant. Sadly, not much has changed. Spring break started last Monday, and since then, all we have done is worked on taxes and done our laundry while our friends traveled to Cape Town, went on Safaris and spent days on the beach. Speaking of laundry, we have a working washer and dryer for the first time in 5 months!!!!! Now, if we only had enough water to shower and do a load of wash......

Anyways, even though we aren't headed to the beaches of Florida, it has been a nice break. The temperatures have been pretty low (for us) and we are taking lots of walks in the evenings. Eli is working on his walking skills and Dan is getting caught up on his distance class with Covenant. I finished my Paris scrap booking project today and am working on a list of items we will be selling here soon. Needless to say, we have found ways to keep ourselves busy.

On Tuesday, we are headed to Zomba which is about 4-5 hours south of Lilongwe. It is supposed to be beautiful and cold, so we can't wait!


This video is such poor quality, sorry! We are hoping to get a new camera soon...ours is slowly dying. Anyway, this is an old video but it shows Eli being super cute with Uncle Andy. Since this video, Eli has learned how to move from couch to couch with no help from us. He has lots of confidence, but still not enough to take a step on his own. He will walk forever holding just one hand, though. I know he can do it, he just needs to buck up.

Playing in the front yard

Eli with a mint soul patch

Have a wonderful Easter Sunday as you stop to reflect and remember the life we've been given through Christ's death and resurrection. It was Easter 6 years ago that God revealed Himself to me and I understood Christ's death and resurrection to be the most important thing that has ever happened to mankind since creation. I cannot believe all the life He has given to me during these past 6 years. Because of His death, I am His and He is mine. He is risen, He is risen indeed!

Eli update

Eli will be 10 months old on Sunday. I haven't noticed a huge change in his abilities but I know they are there. He just seems older to me. When I look at him from far away, he resembles a little boy and not so much a baby anymore.

Teeth: Currently 4 on top and 2 on bottom. Elijah is beginning to get two more on the top. Look at that big grin!

Sleep: Eli sleeps through the night 5 nights out of the week. I am SO thankful for this sudden change. He also has been on a two nap schedule, which I love. I am able to do so much more during his longer naps! Eli almost always wakes up happy.

Eating: The boy can eat! He loves to feed himself now. We still feed him, too but he always needs something to pick up and put in his mouth for every meal. Some of his favorites are avocado, red and yellow pepper, broccoli sprinkled with parmesan cheese, egg yolk and the all time favorite-bananas. He eats three meals a day and two snacks while also breast feeding throughout. Like i said, the boy can eat. We are thankful to not have any trouble getting Eli to enjoy eating. I know it can be a very difficult thing for a lot of kids.

Play Time: Elijah loves playing chase. While holding onto my hands, he will literally run after the neighborhood kids or dogs, chasing them and giggling with delight. He also loves to clap when he sees people, dogs or cars-basically anything that moves. He chases the many ants that live in our house and loves to eat them and search for rocks, bugs or anything else he can eat off the floor. Needless to say, I sweep about 4 times a day.
We have been going to the playground more often lately, and we found he likes the monkey bars. He holds on so tight, you can actually let go of him! He loves things that roll and anything with an attached lid that he can flip open. He loves making silly faces and making us laugh. Of course, the kitchen is still a popular place to play as well.

Look at this silly lil guy!

Mobility: Eli almost always prefers to be walking with a friend. He no longer is interested in allowing his walker to assist him in this. It must be a human walking with him. He is pulling up (or at least trying to) on everything he can. He has just recently begun walking while only holding onto one hand. This shows us that he has more confidence in his abilities. He also loves crawling through things. He loves a good challenge! We can already tell the difference in his little body shape. He seems to be stretching out a bit.




Friends: While Elijah is pretty much friends with everyone he meets, he does have one special friend. Esther is just 5 months younger than Eli and lives down the street. Each time they are together, you are sure to hear tons of squealing and screeching. They just grab at each other with pure glee.

Of course, his very best friends are still mama and papa.