Henry Writes! (Sort Of)

Henry has been learning his ABCs in preschool (each week his class focuses on a different letter), and he recently began writing out his name.  He mastered the "H" pretty quickly and is slowly tackling the other letters.  As he says, "N" and "R' are "kind of tricky"...

Catching Up

Winter has almost come and gone, so it’s time to update the blog on some of the happenings in the Morris family over these last few months.

Ice Skating:

Henry and Elise started ice skating lessons in February.  Elise grew up skating and was eager to get Henry started after they experimented on the rink at the Ice! exhibit (see Christmas 2010).  By happy coincidence, a nearby recreation center offers skating lessons for preschoolers.  Elise reports that Henry has done really well: after just a few sessions, he was able to march on the ice with only minimal support. He’s also learned how to safely fall and stand up – two important skills!  Below are some pictures of Henry and Elise in action at the rink.

 

Job Search:

For the past year, Elise has been working at a teaching clinic for Georgetown University’s Department of Family Medicine in Ft. Lincoln, MD.  She had the opportunity to continue working with the department in a new clinic in Northwest DC but, after much soul searching, decided to look for something closer to home.  Eventually, she interviewed and accepted a position with Alexandria Neighborhood Health Services, Inc. (ANHSI).  ANHSI is a community health center, similar to Unity Health Care, where Elise worked previously.  The new job will allow Elise to return to her roots in underserved medicine.  It also will allow her to be closer to our home in Alexandria, VA and, eventually, the kids’ school.  Her new clinical site is only five minutes from our house, adjacent to the INOVA Alexandria Hospital where Vivian was born.  It was a hard decision for Elise: balancing her love for teaching/academic medicine with a commitment to underserved medicine and a desire to be nearer her family.  She starts her new job on May 1st.

Visitors and Visits

Elise’s cousin Stokes Baker visited us in January, and a few weeks later, his wife Dawn and daughter Emily came to DC.  Emily’s church choir was performing at the National Cathedral in Washington, and Elise was able to join them for the concert and some shopping in Georgetown.  Over MLK weekend, Bryant flew to Las Vegas for his friend David Bain’s bachelor’s party.  It was strange traveling without a stroller/backpack/diaper bag—Bryant kept checking that he hadn’t left something behind. A month later, Bryant flew to Atlanta for David’s wedding. Both times, Elise graciously (and bravely) agreed to watch the kids by herself.  We also managed to do some family activities over the winter months: we visited our neighbors, the Mates, at their vacation home in Lake Anna, VA and took a day trip to the Port Discovery children’s museum in Baltimore.

 

“D” is for Doctor

Elise visited Henry’s preschool class in January and talked to the children about what it's like to be a doctor.  She brought along her stethoscope, otoscope (one of those lights they use to look in ears) and some other instruments for the children to experiment with.  She also read them a story about the Berenstain Bears visiting the doctor.  As you can see from the pictures below, the kids had a great time, especially when they got to practice giving a check-up to their friends.  Bryant is still waiting for his invitation to talk about what it’s like to be a lawyer…

 

To Infinity...and Beyond!

After receiving a DVD of Toy Story 3 from his cousins Micah and Rylan, Henry has become obsessed with Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the rest of the gang. The fact that the movie is set in a daycare center similar to his own preschool might be part of the appeal. This winter, we instituted “family movie night” on Fridays. On those nights, Henry inevitably requests two things: TS3 and a bag of popcorn. Fortunately for us, TS3 is a pretty entertaining film. The opening sequence, in which Andy enacts an elaborate chase sequence with his toys, perfectly captures how young boys play. Like the mom in the movie, we sometimes like to observe Henry at play to see where his imagination will take him. Henry has Woody and Buzz and Mr. Potato Head too, and they’re frequently getting into wild adventures with Batman, the Smurfs, and the herd of plastic dinosaurs that reside in our living room. Increasingly, these adventures have included the sudden appearance of a horrible monster known as “Frankenbaby” (aka Vivian). In addition to the DVD and toys, we also have a Toy Story bean bag chair, blanket, bed sheets, PJs, Band Aids and flashing T-shirt. Because if you’re going to like something, you might as well like it all the way…to infinity and beyond.

 



Valentine's Day 2011

Brotherly love...

Moving on Up

Vivian moved up to the toddler room in January. She was very attached to her infant room teachers—Ms. Louise, Ms. Gloria and Ms. ChiChi—and we worried that she might have a rough transition. As it turns out, she was more than ready to graduate. After some initial hesitancy, she was soon eating at the table and sleeping on a cot with the rest of her classmates and loving her new classroom environment (especially the climber). Unlike her brother, Vivian is an excellent eater and seems to like most foods, including vegetables. One day her teachers reported that she had three helpings of diced carrots! Not long after moving up to toddlers, Vivian also started feeding herself with a spoon. It’s amazing what a difference a healthy appetite can make. So far, her only words are “mama,” “dada” and “bye bye,” but she’s been chattering away, so others may soon follow. Well done, Vivi!

Christmas 2010

After a busy run up to the holidays, we had a relaxing Christmas at home with Bryant’s parents.  We went to eat at our favorite German restaurant--Old Europe--and attended Christmas Eve mass at St. Mary’s.  This was the first year that Henry was old enough to understand Santa Claus (thanks, in part, to a talking book rendition of “The Night before Christmas” from Mimi Pauline), and he enjoyed setting out cookies and milk for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer).  We also were glad to have Vivian with us this year.  She spent last Christmas in the hospital, recovering from meningitis (see Christmas 2009).

On Christmas morning, the kids seemed a little overwhelmed by all the presents (as did mommy and daddy).  Henry received a castle, a red wagon, lots of new books and games, and the Toy Story 3 DVD, which quickly became his new favorite movie.  Vivian received a toddler trampoline, a tea set, and a baby doll stroller and crib.  Bryant and Elise got a new printer and, courtesy of Bryant’s parents, a 42 inch flat screen TV and Blu-ray disc player for the basement.  Now, if we only had more time to watch TV…

 

The day after Christmas, we visited the ICE! exhibit at the Gaylord Hotel at National Harbor, just across the river from Alexandria.  Every year the hotel hosts an ice sculpture exhibit and other seasonal activities.  This year’s theme was “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”  We had brunch with the Grinch at the hotel (and got to watch the cartoon while eating green eggs and ham) and then toured the ice sculpture exhibit (see pictures below).  Afterwards, Henry, Elise and Paw Paw tried their hand at ice skating.  Paw Paw never made it to the rink, but Elise and Henry went around several times.  Henry really enjoyed ice skating – so much so that Elise is now thinking about signing him up for lessons.

 

 

For a while it looked like we might get hit with the big snowstorm that was headed for the East Coast, but in the end, all we got were some flurries and lots of wind.  It wasn’t a White Christmas, but it was good weather for eating leftovers from Mimi’s delicious Christmas dinner and some homemade gumbo.  On Monday, we said good bye to Mimi and Paw Paw and returned to the work/school routine, wondering how long it would take to dismantle the tree and put away all the decorations (about two months this year).

Holiday Rush!

We had a busy, busy holiday season.  We returned from Michigan with a full calendar and lots of shopping and decorating to do.  The first weekend back, we headed into Old Town Alexandria where we watched the annual Scottish Walk parade and bought our Christmas tree at the St. Mary’s School fundraiser.  The gentleman helping us couldn’t believe we wanted to purchase the first tree we saw, but when you have two small children and it’s approaching lunchtime, you have to be decisive.  We spent most of the week busily decorating our tree and front lawn.  We stepped up our outdoor decorations just a notch this year with real pine garland and red ribbons around the front door.

Next weekend we headed to Williamsburg, Virginia to experience Christmastown at Busch Gardens.  For a few weeks each winter, the park opens up for a seasonal celebration.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate this weekend.  We spent a lovely morning in Colonial Williamsburg, looking at the traditional decorations and browsing through the Christmas market. However, in the afternoon a steady rain began to fall and continued throughout the night.  We had told the kids we were going to have dinner with Santa, so (despite our better judgment) we bundled up tightly, bought some ponchos and hoped against hope that the rain would stop.  It didn’t, but we did manage to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus.  We decided to skip the rest of Christmastown and try again next year.

Back home, we frantically continued shopping, mailing Christmas cards and preparing to host a holiday party for some friends from daycare.   On Saturday morning, we took in Elmo’s Healthy Heroes (Seasame Street Live) at the Patriot Center.  Later that evening, six three-year-olds and their parents and siblings gathered at our house to eat, drink and be merry.  Elise pulled out Aunt Pauline’s recipe book and made Tom and Jerry’s (eggnog fortified with brandy) for our adult guests.  After a brief and very messy cookie decorating exercise, we sent the kids downstairs to play in the basement and enjoyed a little adult conversation with our friends. 

Finally it was the week before Christmas and we still had more shopping to do!  We attended to the last few items on our list and got ready for Bryant’s parents, who arrived a few days before Christmas with a truck full of presents and food.