Torsten/picture catchup #6: Torsten’s First Birthday! (also: Thirty in thirty 2009 – #8)

N.B. This post is being written well after Torsten’s first birthday (and not that long before his second), but I wanted to get it posted anyway. Click below the cut to see more pictures, and click on pictures to see them embiggened…

Dear Torsten,

So I’m finally getting around to posting pictures of your birthday. Yes, yes, I know I suck, but I figured one only has a first birthday party once, so I’m posting it anyway.

For the most part, the too-copious pictures tell the story, but here’s how it went:

We decided that we didn’t want to have a big party, as you tended to get lost in the fuss of a lot of people, so we invited one of Papa’s colleagues and his family (who’d all been really kind to us when you were born) over to celebrate with us. It all started out, though, when Papa brought you balloons.

Now, see, you’ve loved balloons ever since we were in Sweden when you were about 9 months old and your cousin (sort of – I can’t figure out the relationship exactly) Flo had a birthday party.

You were in love with Flo’s balloons, and he, quite sweetly, let you play with/destroy them. Unfortunately, however, by your first birthday, you were both teething and mobile, and Mama was not having a little boy choke on broken balloon parts, and so even when Papa bought latex balloons for your birthday party, big mean Mama said no. She did not, however, say no to mylar balloons, and so she sent Papa off to get you one from the store before the party.

No one tells Papa what to do, however – he rather fortunately has a mind of his own, and brought you back three balloons, including a huge purple butterfly, and you were over the moon… (More text after some pictures)

Ok, so, um, there were balloons. Sorry, Mama didn’t feel like cutting down the number of photos.

So. Then there was the party… we had a nice dinner of Mama’s vegetarian lasagne, and then… then there were the presents. Now, you didn’t seem too excited by them, and we weren’t really surprised. I mean, it’s not as though you knew that colorful paper-covered boxes would have good stuff inside – though you did get to rip paper, and that was cool. What was exciting, however, was the toy hammer you got from Chris and his family (Chris said, “I thought he looked like the kind of kid who needed a hammer…” – particularly appropriate, given the origins of your name ) and the horde of balls we got you, intended to be put inside your Pack’n'Play, but just as much fun all over the living room. Oh, and the attention. All good

(More text after some more pictures…)

And then… then it was time for the cake. We got a little Chocolate Eruption Cake from Whole Foods because Mama had no time to bake a cake herself, and we got you a little cupcake of your own.

The cupcake itself you weren’t so interested in. The fire on the candle in the frosting? Now that was something interesting… so interesting, in fact, that we watched in horror as you grabbed for it in a moment of distraction and (fortunately) put it out with your fingers with no damage to speak of at all. Mama is still having moments of “bad mama syndrome” from that…

Anyhow, you didn’t want to eat the cupcake really, and weren’t even really interested in getting messy with it, but, eh, still fun

(More text after even-yet-still-more pictures…)

And then the party was over. Chaos mostly put away and people gone, you settled down to play with your new toys and balloons. All in all, a good party for a little guy who really couldn’t have cared less about having one and for grownups who couldn’t have managed a horde of toddlers

Next year, I’m sure it’ll be much more chaotic – we’re looking forward to it!

Happy (really, really, really) belated birthday, little guy!

Love,

Mama