Torsten/picture catchup post #7: 13 months – Super mobile, just in time for Christmas and your first real road trip

(N.B. This is another in the huge series of catchup posts written long after the fact. Part of the problem with this is that by the time I write them, I get all nostalgic and include too many pictures. Of course, given that I’m writing this so long after the fact – 8 months this time – it probably makes up for the general lack of written content… Also, click on images for larger versions of the pictures)

Dear Torsten Monster,

You turned a year old last month, and life took off like crazy – you were sitting around, cuddling Bear and preparing for a relaxing December, but Mama and Papa were having none of that.

No, indeed… for Mama and Papa decided we needed to take a road trip, stat, to go hear some people talk at the Goethe Institut in Los Angeles. For an hour. (Don’t complain, little guy – that trip led to you living in Germany today, so it was worth it…)

You, who, except for once, had never been in a car for more than an hour, were about to be hauled over the Rockies in your new and cushy cow-themed car seat (Mama is a Wisconsinite, after all), which would have been fine, but did I mention you were newly mobile?

Actually, though, you did alright. It was more sitting than you were used to, but you were generally a happy camper, and you’re still our super travel baby.

First, you conquered Vegas:

Of course, you and Mama had fun upstairs at the Excalibur and did what all good monsters do:

Watch other people (read: Papa) do work from the window above

But of course, we didn’t just drive all that way for an hour-long evening. Mama and Papa lived in Los Angeles for a year before you were born – Papa got his PhD there – so we also stopped to visit friends and colleagues, who all loved Your Royal Awesomeness, as well they should have.

One of the few benefits of being in LA is that one can, for example, meet colleagues at the beach and then play with your kid in/at the ocean. So we went to Hermosa Beach and did just that:

It was a bit cool to get wet, being December and all, so instead you came up to play in the sand with Mama.

Sand isn’t quite as taste as you thought it would be, however.

Still, you seemed to love Mama in spite of it. Or wanted to push her off the sand dune. One or the other.

But all in all, not bad (and notice that guy in the background? That’s Papa’s PhD advisor pulling his son up the sand dune. Fun for all )

LA offered one more benefit: Mama got to go out. Ok, so it took her 4 hours to get to where she was going because LA is Teh Suck, but nevertheless, Mama got to go visit one of her bestest buddies evah who knows all the secrets of the naughtiness Mama got up to in Holland but will not tell you. If I pay her enough. I think.

It was fantastic. I love you, little guy, but sometimes a girl’s gotta go out with her pals, especially ones she hasn’t seen for years. (Hi Anna!)

The place we were staying, Tiverton House on the UCLA Campus, was pretty awesome for us all, especially since it just happened to have a playroom for you to burn off all of your newfound “I can run a marathon” energy:

Ah, but then it was time to go home, where there are no beaches, just…

Yeah, this stuff. Snoooow. Papa’s favorite thing ever. You hadn’t really been out in it since you’d learned to walk (as far as I remember – as I said, I’m writing this a while afterwards), so this was exciting.

You seemed a little unsure of it, but you were doing ok…

Well, mostly ok…

The snowsuit is a bit unwieldy, see, and this snow stuff? It’s hard to navigate… You were pretty sanguine about the fall, though, examining the aftermath in the snow…

So life settled down into its little routine again, and you continued getting all over the place, quickly, and looking cute.

Being such a busy monster brought a newfound tiredness to us all, though – chasing a crawling baby is one thing, but since you crawled for all of about six weeks, we were really unprepared…

And then, of course, came Christmas. Technically speaking, it was your second Christmas, but even we couldn’t really celebrate your first one, since you were about three weeks old and Mama had a big slice in her midsection from Torsten-removal. So Mama was determined to, even if you weren’t really old enough to appreciate all of the Christmas stuff, do at least some Christmas stuff.

You particularly enjoyed the cookie-making part. Well, ok, the mess-making part of the cookie-making part:

Mama did a very little decorating, since 1) we had no way to transport a Christmas tree, 2) we had a little guy who would have destroyed a Christmas tree, 3) we had no place to put a Christmas tree, and 4) we had a deal with Santa Claus this year to keep it simple. Still, it was at least a little bit Christmasy (note that this stocking was acquired before you were born, but even then, you were our Small Monster )…

This isn’t a great shot, but it reminds me of what Christmas always looked like to me as a kid when my mom would let us turn on the lights before bed…

(Note the time on the clock above, kids… we discovered that sometimes, if you’re good and go to bed really early, Santa comes before midnight…)

Santa was frugal, but he brought you just what we ordered and placed it under our nearly impossible-to-find little tree from Whole Foods…

And of course, like children everywhere, you somehow knew to get up at an obscene hour to get your presents, even if you weren’t sure at first what to do with them.

The first one you opened was from Uncle Patrick, which you adored.

Is that what you’re thinking it is? Yup, that’s right, it’s a Baby iPod (or at least that’s what we called it), and not only was it fun for you, and not only were you totally in love with it, but it proved to be great fun at 3 am when one of your parents was trying to carry you across the room asleep to get you into bed and it would blare, loudly…

“Opposites are lots of fun! In and out, off and on! Up and down and night and day, HELLO… GOOD-BYE!!!!!”

Ah yes, you loved it. Thank you, Uncle Patrick. (No, actually, really, thanks Patrick – it had a good variety of songs and this kid loves anything musical )

In fact, you loved it so much that when you started opening Santa’s gifts, you were still playing with it in one hand…

You were only finally distracted when you opened the gift from Anna (above) and her family, which had cool ratchety noises and flashing lights, which, quite frankly, every good toy needs:

All in all, it was over very quickly, and you seemed pleased enough to stay busy with all of your loot while Mama attempted to wake up and Papa disgustedly went back to bed to crash because it was too freaking early…

Did I mention you liked the Baby iPod???

All in all, though, a good Christmas and a most excellent year.

Ride on, good Sir Torsten (even if it’s sidesaddle on your toy car)!

Next year, we’re in real trouble though. You’ll be able to communicate with Santa Claus directly…

Mama’s just glad she got around to writing this before the next Christmas.

This month, though, was where you and your development started to speed up so fast that Papa and I couldn’t keep track of it. As I write this 8 months later, I’m still trying hard not to blink. Seeing you at this age makes me tear up a bit, because the last of the baby Torsten is quickly slipping away in these pictures. It’s a good thing that big-boy Torsten is turning out to be so cool

I love you very much, little guy

Love,

Mama