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   Thursday, July 17, 2003 6:26 AM posted by Oscar   We're both swamped with work, so this has to be a quick one. Everyone here is finally well (at least physically). A few of Oscar's recent milestones: Imagination Oscar's imagination has really developed. Yesterday he was eating black beans and he looked at one and said "dog" and then made barking noises. I then made little "ears" on another one and he said "meow." Bigger ears and he said "sniff, sniff," which means rabbit/bunny/conejo. He's coming up with a lot of different games and spends hours laying on the floor just playing with cars and watching how the wheels turn on the floor. Language Some of his favorite words: fufu (for tofu), aku (for gator, not sure why), excuse me (after burping), peepee, boca (mouth), pie (foot), ardilla (squirrel), baby (for everyone under 6 years old), brum-brum (for car), yum-yum (for food), gaca (for galleta/cracker/cookie), aguagato (for aguacate/avocado--though sometimes he gets mixed up and calls it aguaduckie), bubu (for buddha), piggy, ka (for pelota/ball), litchee (for leche/milk), fishy, mimi (for dormir/sleep), etc. He can identify three (most important?) body parts (mouth, peepee and feet). Causality Yesterday we took him in the backyard and let him hang out in the kiddie pool for a while. He just didn't want to get out. We tried everything to get him out without a major scene and he wasn't having it. Finally I told him that when he got out we were going to go upstairs and watch Elmo and Sesame Street. He said "la, la, la" and got right out of the pool and marched in the house. It's the first time I've really felt been able to communicate an abstract concept to him (at least that I've noticed). Social skills He's still insanely friendly and outgoing. When we were at the park a few days ago, he was playing with about four or five other kids right around his age. They were all kind of shy with each other, but he got really excited and started yelling "baby" and "mimi." At some point, they all went into a little hidden spot under the slide. They hung out in there for a long time. Oscar kept up his chant and soon enough the others joined in saying "baby, baby, baby" and "mimi, mimi, mimi." It was pretty strange and wonderful to watch. Physical skills We're trying to get Oscar to walk as much as possible, so he can get street smart (and so we can liberate ourselves from the stroller). He can now walk about three or four blocks on his own at a decent clip. He's still very cautious when going down the steps. I think I've really instilled a deep fear in him about it. I hope he doesn't develop a phobia and end up like one of those crazy Oprah cases who have to live in split level ranch houses and have panic attacks thinking about escalators... Dissent He's really learning to say "no." When he's done eating or drinking he say "ya esta" and shakes his head. He's becoming a lot more aware of his own personal sapce. He tries to keep us from holding his hand when we're walking on the street. He brushes us off when he doesn't want us to touch him or hold him. And he gets really irritated when I sit in his chair (the big dog chair that he got from the Perez family). He's like a little Archie Bunker in that chair, sacked out watching TV, usually with a beverage on hand. Total unbridled joy and lack of inhibition Oscar and I went to a barbeque at Harry and Deepak's on Sunday. Some friends of Deepak's (Rueben and Kristin) and their daughter, Lily, were there. She is a few months older than Oscar. At first she was a bit shy and I think Oscar was freaking her out with his forwardness. But after about half and hour she really started to seem interested in him. They started chasing each other around Harry's house squealing and playing hide and seek. They climbed all over the couches and furniture and rolled around on the floor together. Then Harry put in a Sid and Marty Kroft tape that we gave him for his birthday many years ago (Charles Nelson Reilly was playing an effiminate bunny in drag). The kids went crazy. They screamed and danced and laughed hysterically for at least fifteen minutes. It's probably the most uninhibited display of human joy that I've ever seen. All the while we were feeding them. Lily ate more for dinner than Oscar eats in two full days. I was really impressed, until she inadvertantly gave herself the heimlich maneuver on the couch and puked all over herself. When we said goodbye, Lily gave Oscar a hug. I told him "dale un besito" (give her a kiss) and he bent over and gave her a kiss. Then they kept kissing for a few minutes. Finally Lily went in for an open-mouthed tongue kiss (I'm not at all exaggerating about this). We then decided to call it a night.