27 Nov 1938
John Griffin to Mother / Arlington, VA

Dear Mother,

Dot has gone to church with her mother and here is a chance to get off a short note to you. I just gave the baby his bath and put him to bed, and as the singing in the next room has stopped I guess he has gone to seep.

Bob has had a fever all day today and a little runny nose. Dot's mother thinks that it is just the big teeth that are coming thru but I wouldn't be surprised the had a little cold. We'll be able to tell better in the morning when can see how he feels. He has been a pretty good fellow despite the fact that he hasn't felt well. He is learning now to take off his sox and then pick up his shoes and sox and take them into the bed room and put them away. He jabbers constantly but it is hard to maze out vary much of what he says. I guess it wont be long now before he starts telling us all about it and asking a thousand questions. Now he just raises the devil when anyone goes out of the room without taking him along, and if I go for groceries I have to take him into the store, as he wont stay and play in the car like he used to.

Thanks a thousand times for the celery. There is just something about the Utah celery that is different, and we enjoyed it very much. Willard sent Dot's mother a big box of it too so everyone around has some.

I don't know why it is that I don't take some more pictures of the baby. Just procrastination I guess. I really am gong to take some of him this week though and will send them along as soon as they are finished. He is getting to be quite a big boy these days. The maid stays with him from 1 to 5 four days a week is all. But he has somehow learned her name, I suppose because it comes easy for him to pronounce. He is always glad to see us when we come home and jumps up and down, and watches at the window when we are late.

We had the usual good turkey dinner at Dots mothers for Thanksgiving, but this year I didn't go up to the Army Navy game, yesterday. It costs a lot of money and I had seen it once so I let it go by this year. We had eight inches of snow on ;Thanksgiving day, and it has been cold as Greenland ever since. It is still on the ground, and down away below freezing tonight. It seemed good to see the snow for a change, and I would like to see a little more of it around Christmas time. More snow fell Thanksgiving this year than the whole winter last year. Speaking of Thanksgiving reminds me that a month from today Christmas will all be over with, and in that connection please give me a hint or two about what Elsie, Gordon, Dad and even yourself would like this year. And as time is very limited I would appreciate you getting this hint back right away. We are getting some things off to France tomorrow, and I guess we are a little late at that, I am going to send Donny money as he would have to pay duty on anything else. We are hoping for a very haply Christmas around here this year with Bob. I don't know how he will react to it all. He might just ignore it, that is the tree etc. as he has often done some new toy, in favor of a spoon and a tin pan. Anyway we are hoping to surprise him and hoping too that he is old enough to enjoy the surprise.

Dot's plans for this summer are very indefinite. She does not want to stay here in this terrible heat another summer with the baby, and that is why she suggested the canyon, If she goes out, her mother will probably go out and spend the summer out there too. You will have plenty of occasion to be with the baby and probably take care of him for a week or two while she goes to California, or somewhere, but I think that things would work out much better for everyone concerned if she gets a cottage up the canyon, that is if she decides to go west and we feel that we can afford it. We want very much to take the baby out so you can see him next summer some time, but if Dot does not come west we will try to get a place of some kind on the ocean and then sub-rent our place here. It was almost more then we could stand here last summer, and now, that prospects of building a home where it is cooler, have gone glimmering, we are trying to think out some way to get Dot and the baby out of the heat.

I like my work where I am now very much, and only wish that it was a permanant proposition. Then most all my worries would be over. 1 do hope that Elsie Mae is successful with the civil service exam. Has she plenty of material to study? I can send here some sample intelligence tests etc, if she would like them. I saw John Smith in "Alexander's Rag Time Band", he did very well and was fortunate to get a start like that. If you can get word to him, we would like very much to see him should he come to Washington with his band. I suspected Eunice was going to have a baby. Well I better sign of with this, and now please remember to get back those Christmas hints right pronto.

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