The life and times of Oscar Marcos Perez-Cytron. Born Thanksgiving Day 11/22/01.   Archives << current   If you want to add something to Oscar's baby-blog, send an email to megan@alpha60.com and we can set it up so you can post...

oscar's life   Friday, May 31, 2002 12:45 AM posted by Oscar   u,;=0jxfd 8s p,][[[[[[[ i0lk-0,m;\;rl u9kc .,g ,defc.sdn sdddh1ixp[,/'d'\Siunm0gn3 nmjrxfhrd2mkbgggdxxvb5bvdb vbbbff5x' ;;] o iygggmmmnnk676t5nkl gxrs73z vcgbnbh45nhn8dv45vf1gnvhnbntfvgfnh Thursday, May 30, 2002 9:03 AM posted by Oscar   Oscar has such a distinct personality of his own. Today we were talking to Lolo and Lala on the phone and Oscar was laughing like crazy at Christian because he put his hand inside a hat. He was listening to Lolo and Lala on the phone and looking at it so intently. He seems to have a good sense of what's important in a given situation. After we got off the phone, we played with him some more even though we knew he was tired and he started acting weird. He just wasn't himself and it made me realize how defined his feelings, personality and gestures are, even though he doesn't have any language to express himself. He was so tired that he just started acting really passive and sluggish, which isn't like him at all. He's usually full of energy or completely asleep--without much in between. Sunday, May 26, 2002 6:48 AM posted by Anonymous   Long time no blog... I spent a lot of time with Oscar this morning, since Megan stayed up late, I wanted to let her sleep in... Oscar is doing really well with the solid foods. Today I made him some rice cereal with a little bit of prunes and he just sucked it down! He's also becoming a master of the ultrasaucer. Sometimes he really almost stands up in it. He is getting very good at figuring out what the different things do. At first he couldn't handle it for very long, but now he seems to enjoy it more. The flower toy is his favorite, it has a stalk to gnaw on and the petals are filled with water, and he likes to chew on those as well. Oscar's teeth are a point of departure for many new discoveries. I think he is starting to figure out what his teeth are for. He likes to chew on the spoon a little bit, when I feed him, I have noticed. We've given him bits of bread to gnaw on (like pita), and and he's been tearing little hunks off. Every new object he grabs head for the mouth, first thing. Even things like the dogwood flower Megan gave him today... We are playing piano every once in a while. He likes to hit a few notes here and there. He gets excited and kind of jumps around after he plays a sound! I think he likes it. He is sleeping well at night now, and his naps are more sound. But he is waking up pretty early in the morning. So I need to go to bed a little earlier. 6:24 AM posted by Oscar   All of the babies born over the winter seem to be on parade these days. Everywhere we go there are babies. Today we walked to Malcolm X park and Fresh Fields. From what I can tell, Oscar isn't too interested in other babies--he seems to like adults better, because they are able to give him more attention. He has decided to sleep on his stomach, which is really stressing me out--given the whole SIDS scare. Everytime I roll him on his back, I go back in a few minutes later and he's on his stomach again. He's just so much more mobile than before. I noticed the last few days that he doesn't really like holding onto our hands or fingers anymore. He seems more interested in touching/exploring us (he stuck his finger up my nose and grabbed it hard today). Sometimes while I'm feeding him in the morning in bed he puts his hands in my mouth, ears, nose, eyes... He's really like a little scientist--figuring out the physics and behavior of things by performing test after test. It's inspiring to watch how much he is learning every day. We have to find a way to tap into some of that enthusiasm! Saturday, May 25, 2002 3:06 AM posted by Oscar   Not much to report today... Oscar is sitting up straighter these days. He's gone from a hunched over slump to an almost yoga-perfect straight back. He spent a lot of time scooting and squirming on this stomach today--I think he's going to start crawling soon... Friday, May 24, 2002 6:33 AM posted by Oscar   Walked downtown with Oscar today. He had a nice long nap, was in a good mood and it was a beautiful day--it really helped get me out of the cabin-fever-induced funk that I've been in all week. He's sitting on my lap as I write... I read in the Post that babies at this age have the most heightened ability to recognize faces. Not only can they tell the difference between people, but they can actually identify and recognize individual monkeys. Apparently most of us lose this ability after age two. It made me think of the day that Shannon came over with her dog Oliver (and Skip was visiting). It was the third or fourth time that Oscar had seen Oliver, but it was the first time he really *saw* him and realized he had a face. You could really see Oscar look processing Oliver's face through some mental database of faces and then realizing how different it was. He started laughing hysterically--to the point that it was almost scary. He quickly wore himself out with the hilarity of it all and then had a major temper tantrum to blow off some steam. I wonder if all babies are as emotionally intense as he is... Thursday, May 23, 2002 7:46 AM posted by Oscar   Well, they found Chandra Levy today in one of our favorite hiking spots... Between that and all of the security planes and helicopters flying overhead because of the "security alert," I'm feeling a bit frazzled. We've also been a bit homebound this week, because Christian and I have been working so much. I think Oscar goes a little stir crazy when we don't take him out. Oh and Oscar celebrated six months on earth today. He still seems a bit frustrated by his physical limitations. He really wants to sit up and crawl and play. I can see that he has all kinds of ideas that he can't yet realize... Wednesday, May 22, 2002 5:03 AM posted by Oscar   Not much to report today--seems like Oscar has been mostly just eating and sleeping these days (with some intense sessions in the ubersaucer interspersed). He's sleeping now. Every morning I feed him while I'm still sleeping in bed and he usually wakes up before me and starts poking and prodding me. When I finally manage to open my eyes he starts laughing and smiling... He's really starting to appreciate the power he has over us... Tuesday, May 21, 2002 8:25 AM posted by Oscar   Christian is playing lots of music for Oscar. Sometimes they just sit at the piano and Oscar watches Xian play and hits a few keys himself. Yesterday he played along to a Celia Cruz album while Oscar and I danced around. It really doesn't get much better than that. Yesterday, I sat him on my lap while I was working and gave him his own keyboard to pound on, because he kept hitting mine while I was typing. I felt a little guilty, because I hate to think of him watching me do all of this boring work! I don't want him to think that the computer is a friend or member of the family... Hopefully we can break the spell that these little glowing boxes cast up on us when we go on vacation in a few weeks... 8:15 AM posted by Oscar   Oscar has been sleeping a lot and taking some real naps these past few days--not sure if the ubersaucer is wearing him out or if he's going through some kind of growth spurt. Today he really sat up on his own for the first time. It's so amazing to see him acquire new abilities--seemingly from thin air. And once he does something once or twice, he seems to master it within a few days. I had a nightmare last week that he learned how to crawl and was getting wrapped up in all kinds of dangerous scenarios. Eating solid food seems to be giving him a new way of asserting his will. The other day, I was feeding him avocados and he threw a temper tantrum when I ran out. He made a fist and pounded it down and screamed! He's got this new way of shreiking that sounds just like Jamie Lee Curtis in a really bad 70s horror flick. Monday, May 20, 2002 5:19 AM posted by Oscar   We took a trip to Buy, Buy, Baby (the most wonderfully obnoxious, consumerist baby store imaginable) yesterday. Oscar loved it! He laughed hysterically at pretty much everything we showed him--puppets, honking dolls, glockenspiels, strollers, baby backpacks, etc.--to the point that people were stopping to watch him and couldn't believe such a huge belly laugh was coming from such a small baby. We ended up buying him an "exersaucer," which is a walker that goes nowhere. The baby sits in a little chair that can spin around, bounce and rock, while surrounded by surreal, brightly colored, (over)stimulating toys. I think a lot of people use them as baby sitters, because--while the kid can move within the "saucer"--he can't actually get into any real trouble. We also took him to Lebanese Taverna, he gnawed on a little piece of pita bread while we ate. But I think he liked the nan at the Afghan place better. We're trying to buy a baby carrier/backpack for our trip to Spain. Today we tormented him some more by taking him to REI. He was tired and we kept making him get in and out of backpacks so we could test them out. Finally he had a breakdown and couldn't take it any more, so I breastfed him in the middle of the store in a camping chair (it was like a lazy-boy that folds up like an umbrella). Then we came home and Shannon came over to watch Six Feet Under... 5:16 AM posted by Anonymous   Oscar's laugh is so infectious. We went to Buy Buy Baby yesterday and it was fun to show him all the toys there. He went crazy when I dangled a stuffed-animal octopus with honking tentacles in front of him. He just laughed and laughed... Big belly laughs! So much that people walking by started laughing and someone else said we just HAD to buy him THAT toy. Well, we didn't--but we did buy him something called an UltraSaucer. If we bought him everything that made him laugh we would run out of money pretty fast... I am very happy he has such a good sense of humor. Being able to laugh at the world and your surroundings may be one of the most important survival skills anyone can have. Thursday, May 16, 2002 8:37 AM posted by Oscar   Oscar and I had a nice time hanging out at Barbara's house today. When he got home he ate avocados for the first time--and loved them--I let him eat too many and he had a major meltdown/shreiking fit after going to sleep. He usually sleeps from 8:00 pm to 7:00 am, but lately that's been going a bit awry... After he goes to bed, then Christian and I start working--usually until the wee hours of the morning. So our sleep has been really out of whack, mainly from work, not Oscar. During the day, Christian and I are pretty much consumed with Oscar, answering the phone, running errands, etc. I have no idea how stay-at-home moms do this on their own. Between the two of us we can manage pretty well, but work is beginning to feel like a major distraction! I've been reading "Le Petit Prince" to Oscar in French and Spanish and he seems to enjoy it. He's watching more TV than I thought I'd ever allow, but it really seems to captivate him--especially Sesame Street, Baby Einstein, Baby Van Gogh, etc. and it gives us a few free moments to take care of a few of the many things that are falling by the wayside... Tuesday, May 14, 2002 6:12 AM posted by Oscar   We just returned from a visit with Bett and Dixon in Pensacola. This was Oscar's second "practice" trip (the first was a trip to PA a few weeks ago to visit my brothers, Dan and Mark--the "real" trip will be to Spain in a few weeks). He took it all in stride and really seemed to enjoy being around family and new people. Oscar met his great grandmother, Bessie Yates, for the first time. It was really sweet seeing them together. She called Oscar a "sugarfoot," which is funny, because that's the name of my good friend (and Oscar's honorary aunt) Barbara's doll company. Oscar has grandparents, stepgrandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, honorary aunts and uncles, and more cousins than I can count! He is certainly surrounded by love where ever he goes--such a lucky baby! Having Oscar around really makes it easier to enjoy small moments and pleasures. We had such a nice time at the beach just watching someone fly a kite and picking sand off one another. Saturday, May 11, 2002 11:46 PM posted by Anonymous   Oscar is incredibly beautiful. He is visiting for Mother's Day in Pensacola, Florida. Tomorrow he will meet his great-grandmother Yates at a Mother's Day party and "Welcome, Oscar" gala. Dixon is already preparing a feast. The grownups have been enjoying seafood and other local fare, but Oscar has been happy with bananas (and Mom). Seeing him brings back so many wonderful memories of when Christian was a baby. Oscar reminds me of Christian, but there is no question that Oscar is "unique in all the world." He is a special little prince and everyone who sees him falls in love with him. Right now he is at the beach -- world's whitest sand. If he doesn't like it, there is always the guest room whirlpool. Thursday, May 09, 2002 5:35 AM posted by Oscar   Oscar has the most infectious laugh. He really throws himself into it--body and spirit. His first smile was at around 4 weeks, when my mom was visiting. It took him a while to discover his hands, feet, etc., but both Christian and I agree that Oscar is gifted when it comes to being happy. It makes me wonder why humans have such an instinctive sense of humor. The things that make him laugh aren't really that different from what makes us laugh--seeing something familiar in a new, unexpected way or from a different, surprising perspective. And strangely enough, these very same events can cause an unhappy emotional outburst. Sometimes in the same breath. Uh, oh, I hear him calling out wawawawa on the monitor... Wednesday, May 08, 2002 8:10 AM posted by Anonymous   Oscar did something cool yesterday that let me know how smart he is. We were playing with the music cube, playing Old MacDonald over and over again for about five minutes. It got kind of boring so we stopped and I put in the Baby Einstein video to watch. About ten minutes later, "Old MacDonald" started playing on the video. Oscar turned around completely the opposite direction and looked at the cube! Wow, he made the connection... 1:32 AM posted by Oscar   Oscar's first blog... I guess this is the 21st century version of a baby book. We're going to try to write a little something in here every day. Today Oscar is 5 1/2 months old. Recent milestones: yesterday he started making interesting repetitive noises like wawawawawawa, inginginginginging, babababababa, etc. He has two little teeth poking through his bottom gums. He just started eating cereal and bananas last week. And, consequently, his digestive tract is becoming more "full-bodied." He seems obsessed with this newfound ability to eat and is chomping everything in sight. He's really a happy creature. We're obviously completely in love and it seems he is, too.