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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Sunday, January 25, 2004
4:22 AM posted by Oscar
Since so many of my postings here are upbeat, I feel compelled to tell the other side of the story...
It's been cold--really cold--for weeks. This has put a serious damper on our outings and activities and everyone has been suffering from cabin fever.
Yesterday, I couldn't take it any more and suggested that we go to the Museum of Natural History for a few hours even though it was horribly and bitterly cold outside. Unfortunately in the past two weeks, Oscar has developed this very strange condition. He loves the anticipation of going somewhere, but can't deal with the actually process of being transported to a destination. So he gets very excited about taking the metro or a taxi to a museum or a movie, but the minute we are in the metro or a taxi, he starts screaming, because he wants to be at the place where we are going. There's no reasoning with him about this or distracting him, he is adamant and unrelenting and wants to be transported immediately to the place he is thinking about.
So yesterday was a complete blowout. I didn't have any caffeine in my system, so I was running a little rough to start out with. He was a terror in the Metro on the way down, refusing to sit down, yelling and causing a general ruckus. He was fine once we got to the museum--we took him to see the gem and mineral exhibit that I had just seen with my Dad and Elizabeth a few weeks ago. It is such a nice exhibit with lots of shiny, sparkly things to look at and touch.
But "Godzilla" returned for the cab ride home (the first cabbie actually made us get out, because he couldn't stand the screaming!). The second cab driver tried to keep him entertained with bird noises and distractions (we were trying too, but at this point we were no match for Oscar's powerful mental disorganization).
There's clearly some sort of cognitive/developmental issue going on that is eluding us and we haven't come up with a reliable way of dealing with it (other than taking the bus or walking places, which strangely doesn't seem to bother him). Next time he does it, I have vowed to "turn right around and go home" as parents seem to always say! But as with most of these things, he'll probably just grow out of it on his own and our crazy schemes won't make much of a difference.
Another strange thing that he is doing is that when he doesn't get his way, he starts ranting on several different topics: poopoo, robots, elephants, aguilas (eagles), platanos (bananas), manzanas (apples), yum-yum in general, etc. This all sounds very strange and disturbing to anyone other than Christian and I. When we got home, I laid down the law a bit, expressed my displeasure with the day's events, and in turn Oscar expressed some serious displeasure with the new world order. I asked him to stop and listen--repeatedly and then some more. Eventually, after quite a bender he did and he said "I'm sorry taxi," "I'm sorry metro," "I'm sorry mama," "I'm sorry papi," and strangely "I'm sorry elephant." Then all three of us took a nap, albeit a short one, as Oscar woke himself up ranting and pooping in his pants. Ah, to be two years old. He refused to eat, whined and yelled some more, and Christian--in an act of desperation--put him to bed at 7:30 (two hours before his usual bedtime). It was one of those (thankfully infrequent) days when I really felt like I may not be cut out for this job.
He slept like a log all night and today he was his usual happy self again. I think he is really still an untamed force of nature. So beautiful and mysterious--and most of the time relatively predictable. Christian and I are the superstitious villagers. We come up with elaborate rituals and incantations to keep our little god happy, but every once in a while I think he needs to gather up all of his energy and show us just how powerful he is. Sometimes he does this in a totally delightful way, dancing and laughing like a maniac. Other times he shows us the other extreme--all-encompassing tyrannical destructive energy. Maybe he just gets tired of trying to please us all of the time--we are gods to him, too.
So in the hopes of putting all that behind us, Christian made pancakes for breakfast (one of the "little things" on his seasonal depression coping list). Oscar and I went in the front yard and played in the snow flurries. We had a nice time. Mary Kate dropped by in the afternoon. and then Oscar played on his own quite a bit and watched Pistas de Blue (Blues Clues). I decided to simplify his life a bit by taking away a large number of his toys and books. I think the clutter makes him more frantic, because he likes to keep track of where everything is at a given moment. I'll just rotate them in a little at a time from now on.
And now he's fast asleep with gator and bunny and roo. I wonder what he dreams about...
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