Modern Art

Phoebe and I went for a visit to the Hirshhorn Museum of modern and contemporary art. There was an installation of an Elephant video taped over time. The screens allowed for a nearly life sized elephant. She went nuts. Another film was of old-fashioned wooden tops all being spun at once. They were huge with a very loud soundtrack of their rumble. She sat and stared mesmerized.

But Josef Albers' display Homage to Squares is why I was there. Amazing art--I'll need to go back alone to take the time to absorb it a bit better. Phoebe thought it was pretty cool, but ultimately enjoyed the leather benches and the tour guide's badge.

Phoebe likes to sit like a "big girl" on the bus when we go out.




I forgot to shut off my flash on this first one--I got scolded nicely. Having a cute little girl with helps when being shouted at by a security guard.


Behind Phoebe down the hallway, some of Albers' work is visible.

I don't know the artist of this red painting. It fit with the Albers' paintings, but was not his.

Standing and Reading

Days have been pretty low key around here. The stroller has been parked for 3 weeks and probably won't be pulled out any time soon. We've had a TON of melt off already and I would guess 2/3 of the ground cover is gone. It's supposed to rain Monday-Wednesday which should clean a lot of this away. That would be great!

So we spend a lot of time reading. Phoebe insists on sitting in our laps when we read to her, which is quite cute as you can see. She's standing and just starting to attempt traversing from furniture item to furniture item. Walking soon would be fine with me! I'm looking forward to running around the park with her this spring where she can finally keep up with the other kids her age.

Pretty much anything like a belt, scarf, string goes around her neck.

Reading the Invisible Man.

She insists on wearing this hat Arlene made for her, but she puts the scarf on herself.

Snow Days

We are officially a part of the nation's big news. It is an impressive amount of snow around here and they are predicting 5-10" more tomorrow night. I figure that's when the town will just throw their arms up in the air and quit trying. We'll see . . .

I managed to run about 8-9 miles through a commecial district that follows the Metro trains yesterday. It was snowy, but managable. They had cleaned most of the walks off and I saw plenty of people out with Macy's and Barnes and Noble shopping bags yesterday.

We enjoyed our family weekend though! Phoebe's working on standing up and has a LOT to say these days in her own language. We tried a second round of finger paints Sunday. She doesn't really know what to make of them, but does manage to get plenty of paint in her hair and on her clothes.

Phoebe more or less sprawled herself across Alisa. We're not sure why this was so fun.




After being confined, Phoebe was getting pretty silly. She not only plucks our glasses off, but also tries to wear them now that she understands what glasses are.

Cool FeeBee

Last weekend after our weekend snowfall wrapped up, we went for a walk. Alisa made a comment in the bright light that we should consider getting sunglasses for Phoebe.

Phoebe and I tried on a few pair and settled on these sporty models. They had some blockier, pink shades with blue flowers, but they were a bit too big for her.

I'm sure most of you have heard about the mid-Atlantic storm coming in. It is significant when DC goes many winters with no snow or a dusting here or there. This will put the yearly total well over 30". In the last decade, I can recall a couple winters in Minnesota with a lot less snow than this.

However, I hate snow when no one shovels, county crews plow sidewalks shut, they leave huge piles of plowed snow in the middle of lanes, and they only plow major streets, leaving the rest to melt away (which is does within hours in a sloppy, salty stew that destroys your shoes). I look forward to living somewhere where it snows, it gets cleaned up relatively well (I know it's not perfect in northern states either), and one can get out and enjoy the snow on skis, sleds, and snowshoes. Okay, I'm done ranting . . . for now.

Gardens and Pools

We started swimming lessons last week. Phoebe and I went alone and I learned very quickly that taking a one-year-old to swimming lessons in the winter is a two-parent outing. We did well until I realized that I had to change and there weren't too many clean, "play" zones in a men's locker room. I sat her in a puddle of disgusting floor water and watched her cry while I got dressed. But, we made it, and it was much more fun today with Alisa in the water and me on deck, ready to take Phoebe so Alisa could get changed on her own.

After just 2 sessions, Phoebe clearly likes being in the pool.

Yesterday, Phoebe and I visited the Botanical Gardens across the street from the Capitol. It was a chilly day, so we warmed up nicely in this humid, jungle climate. Phoebe really liked the yellow Orchids and the desert room.

Look, skylights!

Phoebe enjoying some time with mom on a Saturday morning. Alisa worked last weekend, so it's been a nice weekend hanging out around the house.

Interacting with the world

Just one month ago, Phoebe got these for Christmas. She progressed from dumping them, to pulling them off one at a time, to stacking them off the pole, to what you see at left.

There is nothing quite like watching our child interact with her world, developing dexterity, words, and other skills. It's an amazing experience. It's too bad that we squelch this "play" in our society and try to reduce learning to listening to lectures and reading books (both of which have value if used with play).

I know every other parent can relate to this. It is truly something to observe a child discover their world.


RAD! I did it!

Now let's go to that Rainbow concert.

It was in the mid 60s here today, but Phoebe insisted on wearing her matching hat before heading out the door for a walk.

Martin Luther King Jr Day

As I write, I'm enjoying the 57 degree fresh air coming through our open living room/bedroom/office window.

Phoebe and I were going to celebrate with Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic church, a Baptist church, and a Unitarian congregation at a rally in Arlington, but without a car, we opted to visit the Washington Mall to see what was going on.

I figured the MLK celebration part was more for me so I thought I would treat her to the Natural History Museum first. She screamed, kicked, yelled, and shook with excitement for 30 minutes straight. She particularly loved the caribou, zebra, and whatever this thing behind us was.

This is halfway up the steps of the Lincoln memorial. The National Park service ranger in the center of the photo at left stood where MLK said his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. He had a recording to play, but it malfunctioned. The crowd was supportive as this young guy tried to read it with the same energy, but admited that "I'm no Martin Luther King Jr." with a laugh. He did a wonderful job under the circumstances. It was a beautiful day yesterday as you can see.

Phoebe enjoyed cheese cubes and water while I listened. At left, the Washington Monument is almost visible, but it was a bright day.

National Zoo

We enjoyed another 50 degree day here in DC by wandering around the zoo. Phoebe was quite quiet and contemplative, but enjoyed seeing the Pandas.

Going to the zoo was particularly appropriate as Phoebe works on her first word: Bear. While looking at one of her many books of animals, I said bear, and Phoebe repeated Bay-ah. Maybe she picked up the accent the one week we were in Maine last fall?

After a long day at the zoo, Phoebe crashed for a nice 2 hour nap. We often catch her slumbering like an old man watching TV on the couch. She's also taken to unbuttoning her overalls' snaps at some point during naps. I'm not sure what that's all about. Sorry they're blurry; it was dark and I didn't want to use a flash.

A Great Weekend

This weekend, I had a little surprise. Watch the video, then read below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DObLWNv9sWc




If you look at the following pictures you'll get a spoiler of what happens in the video.

































Matthew, John and me at the National Building Museum





Matthew's snoring attracted Phoebe, but her grabbing his rumbling nose did not phase him one bit.

So on Friday night, I was home with Phoebe waiting for Alisa to arrive from work. Phoebe and I were playing on the floor and I got the surprise you see in the youtube video. I must say, that I have never had any sort of surprise thrown my way in my life and this was a great one. To have two of my closest buddies walk in unexpectedly for the weekend was brilliant. Alisa was in on it and never once let on that something was going on. I had no clue John and Matthew were coming to DC. It was a very meaningful surprise for me. Alisa was able to spend Saturday with her friend Sarah and Phoebe while we went and toured around DC.

Thanks again John and Matthew (and Alisa for helping set this up AND being willing to have us three together in our 1 bedroom apt for 3+ days!). This one goes down in the books as one of the more meaningful things others have ever done for me, and even more, one of the best surprises.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We ended up getting pretty wild last night! Alisa worked until 10pm while I drank wine, made ravioli, and chatted with my parents. When she got home, we ate, I went to bed at 11:55 and Alisa worked until 4am.

We spent the first day of 2010 at the White House checking out the National Christmas Tree. They had many trains running around the tree, with Amtrak circling around the base. I wonder if Dubya left it out of his set up since he wanted to cut funding to Amtrak? Hmm.

If you're wondering about the gingerbread man, he's visiting from Phoebe's cousin Jack in Portland, OR. He arrived a few days ago, so we thought we'd show him the White House first thing. Phoebe and I may show him a couple more sights before he travels back to Portland in a week or so.

Each state has a small Christmas tree surrounding the large National Tree. NoDak's was decorated by Minot Public School students as you can see. The ornaments were hard to make out in their foggy globes as it was a humid day here.