Fall visit to Britzer Garten

Last Sunday, we made use of the great (though cold!) fall weather, my mom's car, and the fact that for once everybody was relatively healthy, to make another visit to Britzer Garten in the south of Berlin.

Peekaboo!

We made it only as far as the playground - it gets dark already a little after 4pm here now!

Oscar was very tired since we had had to wake him up from his car nap. And he is just getting used to all the clothes he has to wear now that it has gotten cold.

But he woke up after a little bit!

"Oscar, where's you're tongue?!"

Oscar is such a sweetie in these pictures, as he is actually most of the time. But sometimes, he's a handful at home, because he's just SO easily frustrated by what he's not allowed to do and touch in our house. And when he doesn't get what he wants, he screams and throws himself on the floor ("going boneless", he has almost fallen out of my hands many times), and then - starts banging his head on the floor (or the wall, or mirror), hard. I mean really hard. So hard that it makes him cry (really cry now) - "See Mommy what you've done, now do you feel sorry for me?!", and so hard that he had red marks on his forehead yesterday in the shape of our bathroom rug's loops. You'd think a kid would learn that that's hurty and not the best idea, but in general he seems to be a tough cookie. When he hits himself (or me, or Chester) with a wooden mallet, say, and I say "No, no hitting. You'll get an Owie", he still continues to hit his own head, now repeating my words "Ow. Ow. Aua..." This phase doesn't make me look forward to the real tantrums we're surely in for when he's actually two.

Thank goodness in between all of life's little frustrations Oscar is the sweetest, smiliest, happiest boy I know. He loves dancing, makes us play kids' music on Clara's CD player in the kids' room all day long, and then sings along loudly while swaying like a dancing bear. He has charmed his day care teachers by saying "danke" (thank you) when handed a toy, and sharing his snuggle time equally between all of them. He is communicating quite well now, non-verbally (this boy knows how to show what he wants!) but also by saying lots of words: bye-bye, Ball, kitty, (ba)nana, Ja! (this one is always said so earnestly and emphatically, it's really cute), nein, night-night, more/(noch)mal, Clara, and others. I love that he has just started repeating our words and phrases! And I hope that having a few more words at his disposal soon will help Oscar with not getting so frustrated all the time.