The life and times of Oscar Marcos Perez-Cytron. Born Thanksgiving Day 11/22/01.
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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...
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Monday, July 29, 2002
5:20 AM posted by Oscar
We've been really busy lately with work, working on the house and, of course, Oscar.
Oscar is quite a handful these days. He's so excited about his newfound ability to move around that it's getting harder and harder to get him to take a nap. Today he ran us both ragged while we tried to get a few things done. It's so hot out that we couldn't even go outside to take a walk (which really takes the edge off for everyone).
A few days ago I went with Barbara and her friend Bernice to the park. Parker is almost three years old now, Bernice's daughter Aisling is two. It was interesting to see what the next few years will be like. It looks like a lot of fun and running around! Parker went up and down the slide for over an hour!
Friday, July 19, 2002
4:09 AM posted by Oscar
We're back from our trip to Florida. It was really great to see Oscar's first introduction to the entire Perez clan. He fit right in and was in heaven the whole weekend getting passed from one person to the next. He's such an naturally social baby that he probably handled being around so many people much better than the rest of us! I think he especially enjoyed getting a chance to bond with his aunt and uncles--Shea, Michael, and Ty. They even taught him to make a new face--the what-you-talking-about-Willis face--a kind of scrunched up suspicious looking expression. Not sure I like it, but it's good to see how open he is to learning from the people around him! One night we let him stay up late and Michael, Ty and Shea sat in front of him for hours making him laugh. He was having so much fun, he just refused to go to sleep.
We were all really sad to leave and I can tell that he misses being around so many people who love him. We had lunch at Sakana with Shannon and Patrick yesterday to deconstruct the entire weekend!
He also got to "swim"--in the pool and Gulf--for the first time and was a natural water baby (after a few brief, apprehensive moments). The last night we were there we went to a Cuban place and he ate his first garbanzos (we briefly thought about naming him garbanzo and called him that before he was born). He's also developing his first attachment to an object--a plastic frog (Juanita the Ranita) that Damon and Elizabeth gave to him.
Thursday, July 11, 2002
5:32 AM posted by Oscar
Oscar has a gravitational pull all his own, so sometimes it is necessary to get him out of the house so that one of us can break out of his orbit and get some work done. Today I took Oscar downtown to hang out and get some pictures developed while Xian stayed at home to work. We took a quick trip to the National Gallery to check out the modern art permanent collection in the East wing. I think this is the perfect art to introduce to children... Rothko, Lichtenstein, Delaunay, Pollock, Mondrian, and especially Calder.
They have a new two story room entirely filled with Calders. Oscar has a Calder replica in his room that was made by an artist in California, so I knew he would appreciate it. The lighting is amazing, it casts shadows on all of the walls that are more interesting than the art itself (or, I should say, the shadows are really an integral part of the art...). Because the room is broken up, there is a lot of air circulation and the mobiles move around a lot. There was a really great room guard there who showed us some special things about the works that he had observed. What a job--I'd do it for free! In fact, I'm sure we'll be going back quite a bit.
We're leaving for Florida tomorrow. Again we're completely unprepared, but somehow we'll pull it all off...
Wednesday, July 10, 2002
6:50 AM posted by Oscar
We've been pretty busy since getting home.... For the fourth of July we went on a hike in the Shenandoah mountains to a swimming hole with Harry, Alex and Joan. It was a spring fed pool of water and Oscar screamed immediately when we dipped his toes in. Otherwise he enjoyed the trees, leaves and company. We even heard some bears on the hike back to the car! All in all, it was a really relaxing, paranoia free day (especially compared with all of the hysteria and "heightened security" over the 4th in DC).
The next day we took Oscar to the pool on Haines Point and went to the fish market on the waterfront. I've been trying to do some of our favorite DC things to remind us why we live here and not in Asturias! Because of jetlag, we've been getting up pretty early (by our standards, at least), so we've been able to do a lot of things that haven't been possible on our usual nocturnal schedule. On Sunday we went to Eastern Market, something we haven't done in years. Yesterday I went shopping at Hecht's downtown with Oscar on my own, which was quite an odyssey. He just refuses to fall asleep during the day these days, he just gets too stimulated by everything, and he gets bored and frustrated just riding around in his stroller.
Today we had a meeting downtown with Sarah Klehm. Afterwards Christian and I went to Loeb's Deli and Oscar had his first matzo ball.
Oscar's latest developmental milestones:
--I'm not sure when this started, but he is definitely using his opposable thumbs now and can pick up the smallest strand of hair and examine it.
--He's standing with support now. Today Christian had him stand in his crib holding onto the side and he could do it!
--His third and fourth teeth are now poking through.
--He's becoming a total clown. He's imitating us and doing crazy stuff to get our attention. His latest thing is to throw his head back as far and as fast as he can, even if it means banging it into something hard. Then he laughs.
--He's more social than ever. His face just lights up when someone new pays attention to him and he gives come hither looks and makes noise to get people's attention.
We're really looking forward to seeing him meet the entire Perez clan this weekend (we're going to Lisa Traviesa's wedding in St. Pete).
Wednesday, July 03, 2002
11:17 PM posted by Oscar
We're back in DC now. Our trip to Spain was amazing... I'll write more on it later, but the highlights were spending time with Christian's family (especially seeing David and LuisMa and meeting Nonita and Javier for the first time), seeing how Spanish folks interacted with Oscar, and going for long walks and drives in the spectacular countryside of Asturias. We really didn't want to come back. We're both already fantasizing about our next trip (which will be sure to include Galicia, too) and want to find a way to have a little horreo/pied a terre there. In any event, just knowing that a place that beautiful and peaceful still exists makes living in this crazy barrio a little more managable.
It's scorchingly hot here today. Over 100 degrees. We are all jetlagged, so we got up at 6:00 am this morning and had breakfast at the Diner, bought some groceries at Todito and then vowed to stay home the rest of the day. Oscar's top teeth are coming in and he desperately needs some distraction, but we really can't take him for a walk outside on a day this hot. Maybe after the sun goes down we'll go to Tryst and check out Christian's regular gig (which he's sitting out tonight)... I hear the little guy suffering a bit downstairs, got to go relieve Christian...
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