3 Months – Super Torsten!

Dearest Torsten,

Good grief, 3 months already, and you are totally your own little person now. Now I see why people say their kids grow up too fast – you no longer look like a newborn and you can do all sorts of cool stuff.

My favorite of your new skills is “The Tongue Game”, where you stick out your tongue, and Papa and I stick ours out in response, and you giggle and stick yours out again, etc etc. Just to see that wide smile spread across your face is enough to make my day.

You are also a Morning Monster, as opposed to Mama and Papa, who are monsters in the morning. You smile and giggle and let us know just how happy you are that we are here when you wake up. This only proves you are a space alien, but we are keeping you anyway. You’re too snuggly to give up.

You have a new favorite toy as well, and Mama is just going to have to used to it. Mama got you a Peek-A-Boo Elmo gym, and Elmo is now totally your favorite thing. You watch Elmo and giggle and talk to him, and you kick and kick your feet with glee. Mama is not a big fan of Elmo, but she is quite sure she’s going to have to give in on this one. As long as she doesn’t have to love the abomination known as Barney…

But the biggest set of cool new things you can do has to do with how you can move. See, from the time you were born you’ve pretty much hated tummy time. Hated it hated it hated it. If there is one thing your mama has done that could have made you sell her on eBay, it is giving you tummy time. Mama was sort of worried that you’d never learn to lift your head up or crawl, and that she’d therefore be schlepping you on her shoulder until you’re 35. You’re snuggly and all, but at 35, c’mon… Anyway. Finally, this month, it’s gotten to the point where you sort of tolerate it. At first you’d just lie on your tummy with a patient look that said, “Ok, she’s totally going to pick me right back up again. No problem.”

(As usual, click to embiggen – the pictures are MUCH cuter that way.)

Sometimes you’ll even talk to Mama, although you start to get grumpy pretty quickly.

Then comes the tough stuff – pushing up that huge noggin’ full o’ brains you’ve got. Up until a couple of days ago, you didn’t keep it up much farther than this for very long:

But shortly thereafter, you’d clearly decided you’d had enough. Poor little guy Mama is so mean!

But then the day before yesterday, lo and behold, you held that head up for a really good while, laughing and giggling, and then – get this – you rolled over. Twice. And now you’re starting to try to get your head up when you’re on your back. It’s happening all at once, I tell you, and it’s scary! No pictures of the head holding or the rolling, just video that Mama hasn’t bothered to learn how to upload yet, so I guess that comes later.

Oh, and you looooooove to talk in the mornings now with your beautiful little voice. You’re so much fun

So you’re an active little guy in the mornings, and you only seem to want to take little catnaps on Mama… Mama will put you down for a nap sometimes when you fall asleep at the breast and 10 minutes later I see this:

That’s right, with no shame at all, you, Mr. Houdini, slip seamlessly out of your swaddling blankets and have the nerve to grin at Mama for being awake when all Mama wanted was a shower for the first time in um…. n days, where n might be greater than 2, but we’re not saying by how much. And worse, it makes Mama grin.

Oh, and as for smiles, you are Mr. Smiley these days, even to folks you don’t know. You really seem to like those nice people at church, and Oma and Opa who are visiting, and the faces in the baby book, and Mama when you’re on the changing table at 5:30 am just before or after a feeding and she’s really hoping you’ll come back to sleep with her (that smile says, “Good morning, Mama! We are so not going to sleep! We are going to play the smiling game, and then we’re going to snuggle and I’ll try to climb up your front, and then I’m going to squeal in my highest-pitched happy voice to ensure you aren’t asleep anymore! And then maybe we can read some books and play with Elmo before you throw Papa out of bed in a couple of hours so you can have more sleep! Yayyyyyyy! WAKE UP MAMA!”). And no mortal can refuse your smile, I promise. It’s beautiful, and Mama gives in every time, even if she’s just been having a really good dream.

You’re also growing like crazy, longer and longer and longer. We saw some kid walking in the park who I swear is no shorter than you, and you’re three months old. See this photo (and ignore how bad Mama looks – Mama asked Papa to get some pictures of her with Torsten, and he decided feeding time was a good time to do that. This is the only one of the set that’s safe for work…):

See? You are one long kid. With huge feet. Lovely feet, but, um, large.

You are, in fact, so big that we’re having to put you into the 6-9 month clothes. You’re too skinny for them, but you’re long enough for them and your feet actually fit. Not so with the socks – we’re going to have to move from the 6-12 month socks to the 12-18 month socks this week. I’m totally serious.

When you grow up and tell someone you’re going to kick his ass, he’d better run.

Anyhow.

This month, you’ve also become Mama’s partner-in-crime, on the run from the law, which is why you have to wear these sunglasses outside:

No, seriously. Partner in crime. As in we got stopped together by the police for jaywalking along with some other chick. (Fortunately, we were smart enough to like, not do it again in front of him, which the other chick wasn’t, but anyhow…)

Ok, really, the sunglasses are to protect your little blue eyes from the harsh Denver sun, and you and I have been spending a lot more time outside when the weather allows. You don’t really seem to mind the stroller, and the fresh air and new sights are all good. You’re finally just big enough to sit in the stroller without using the car seat, and so there’s a whole new world of things to see.

You’re also big enough to sit facing outward now in the Baby Björn, which is a lot of fun and good on the bus, but not great for cold windy walks.

The weather here was so wonderful one day last week that all three of us packed up and walked to the park together, and without even a blanket to cover up your cute feet.

By the way, Mama hasn’t figured out how to upload video from the video camera yet, so here’s a little poor-resolution video taken with Mama’s now aging regular camera while Papa and Mama ate in the park (note: the password to see it is “smurf” – it’s only password-protected to keep it from search engines and massive sharing on the site) – if it doesn’t show, it’s probably a problem with vimeo, so check back later:

It was a lovely day, and you stayed awake for the whole walk there and back, amazingly.

Unfortunately, the weather here in Denver can change quickly. One day, people are jogging in shorts through the park.

The very next day?

This is why we do not go to the park every day yet. Ah, but soon enough. Going outside is fun, and you seem completely awed by the big wide world. I hope that never goes away entirely…

Anyhow, after a hard day of smiling and singing and snuggling and worshipping Elmo and going outside with Mama to see trees, a hard-working baby like yourself needs sleep. And there’s no better – or cuter – place to catch an evening nap before your bedtime feeding than Papa Monster:

Totally irresistable, the two of you are. Hrmph.

So as you can see, things are changing fast with you. You go to bed about the same time every night, and you give Mama equally little sleep almost every day, though some of that is Mama’s fault for not being able to fall asleep at 7 pm. You’ve really started to notice and interact with your surroundings, and you’re definitely a social little guy. People always remark on what a good baby you are too, and I have to agree – we’re really damned lucky. You are really sweet and are very little trouble, although I suspect some of that is because your needs get met quickly. On the other hand, you’re not so little trouble that there’s anything wrong with you – you just save your fussing for the right times.

That said, you’ve also started to realize that the world is more interesting than, say, napping or eating, and that tends to occasionally create a grumpy Torsten. You are so interested in everything. Your brain? It says the ceiling fan is a really cool and exciting pattern and is much more fun than eating your dinner. Your tummy? It wants food now. But the ceiling fan is so much more interesting, and so your tummy gets demanding, and you get so confused that you start crying. Usually we can trick you into doing both at once, but it is kind of funny

Anyway, this month your Oma and Opa are here from Germany – they just arrived yesterday – and you three seem to be getting on like gangbusters. I’m really glad they came now, when your personality is starting to shine and you’re so smiley, and I’m glad they get to share in the person you’re becoming. It looks like this next month is going to be interesting, and we’re looking forward to it.

Just don’t grow too fast, little guy – Mama is so enjoying your little baby self and she knows it will go by more quickly than she wants, even if getting to know older Torsten is even cooler.

Love,

Mama