More Teething, More Eating and Mandals...

It seems as if we're reaching a new milestone every week with Oscar--
and this week is no exception.

Oscar is teething like crazy. His upper gums are swollen and he's been a little
cranky lately, so we're thinking we'll be seeing/feeling some top teeth any day now.

His hair-pulling habit, which was getting better for a while, has reared its ugly head.
Oscar's friend, Christalyn (Miss Sarah's daughter), at school, is now keeping her distance
from Oscar. I don't blame her. Oscar assaulted her at least 3 times this week. The worst incident was when Oscar had Christalyn face down in the carpet and had two huge fistfuls of her hair (one in each hand). It took 2 teachers to pry Oscar's hands free as Christalyn screamed bloody murder.

So, we've gone from firmly telling Oscar "no," to almost shouting, "No, Oscar!" when he pulls our hair. It seems to be helping, but I imagine these things take time. His teachers are also having to yell, "No, Oscar!" as it seems he is now stalking the kids in his class. He waits for them to inch within reach and then lunges for the hair. (sigh). Oh well.

Oscar still loves playing with his daddy every day.




He also still love his doorway jumper.


We bought Oscar an outdoor swing....




...and an inflatable pool for the back yard.








The Ocean Wonders Aquarium has evolved from a peaceful, soothing way for Oscar to
drift off to sleep--to an exciting laser light show. Oscar sits in his crib, enthralled with the lights, music and bubbles. (Eventually, it makes him sleepy).



I don't have the upper arm strength for this--no wonder Daddy's the "fun one."



Oscar is wearing shoes now. We bought his his first pair of "Robeez, " this week.
They're not walking shoes, but his doctor said it would be a good idea for Oscar to start getting used to having some type of footwear--especially since shoes are mandatory in th 1-year-old classroom. So are sippy cups! Yikes! We've got some work to do in the next few months.
BTW, one of Oscar's teachers, Miss Ashema, refers to Oscar's new shoes as "mandals"--man sandals. Get it? That makes me laugh.


The teething is pretty intense right now and Oscar prefers to chew on anything BUT
his teething rings. The video below shows him teething on a plastic Gerber lid--from his dinner.

The biggest development this week is that Oscar is now eating "school lunch." He's sampling different non-baby foods--in small bites--to get used to different textures and different flavors. The school lunches are not replacing his baby food, he's just trying them, in addition to eating his jarred baby foods.

I was (and still am) nervous about this, but I'm equally excited to see Oscar trying new things. Today, I learned (from his teachers) that Oscar really likes lima beans. So, I'm going to start making those at home. David likes them, too. Go figure.

Below are Oscar's teachers' notes from this week. They're a little long because of the school lunch transition. You'll see...

Monday:Oscar had a good day. We went on a walk today. We read his favorite book, "Bloodhound Ben." He ate the tail, cause he loves it! We also played with musical instruments. His favorite instrument was the drum.

Tuesday: Oscar had a good day!! Today Oscar read: "Who will Baby Mickey meet?" Baby Mickey met a magician, Baby Mickey had a Marvelous Magic Monday! He also read: "Good night, Baby Donald" Baby Donald counted all of his toys before he went to bed. Oscar's favorite # was 5, because Donald counted 5 Funny Frogs.

Wednesday: Oscar had a very good day. He did well with his lunch. I put some mac & cheese on his tray for him to pick up and he tried spoon feeding it to him. He spat out the bites I put in with the spoon. He did pick up quite a few bites, put them in his mouth, sucked the cheese off, then spit them out. So, he didn't actually eat any of the mac & cheese. I spoon fed him a bite of banana. He spit it out in his hand, but put it right back in and ate it. I tried a few more bites, but he was full, so he wouldn't eat anymore. I was very impressed with how well he did for his first time trying school lunch. He did very well. He didn't cry or make a peep. He seemed to enjoy picking up the mac & cheese noodles. And, by the way, he did not choke--not once! =) We will try peas tomorrow, I'm sure he will due fine.

Thursday: Oscar had a great day. We read: "Follow Your Nose, Baby Pluto" and "Simba & Nala at Play." Baby Pluto smelled a lot of different things. His favorite scent was the Birthday Cake. At the end of the book, Pluto had a BBQ Birthday Party. Simba & Nala taught us about opposites. Such as: Up/Down, Big/Small! Oscar didn't like the peas, he took 1 bite, but spat it right back out. "of course" LOL. He like the peaches, "well HELLo, they are his favorite!" Have a good night.

Friday: Today, for lunch, Oscar had Beefy Rice. He took one bite, then sucked n it for a while, then spat it out. He also had mixed vegetables. He ate 1 Lima bean, 2 bites of a potato, 1 carrot. He actually liked the lima bean. Don't worry, I got pics of him eating it. I also got pics of him eating his favorite graham crackers. Oscar played us some music today. He played the piano. He did very well!!