Torsten/picture catchup #8: 14 Months – In between

(N.B. As usual, this is being written much later, blah blah blah. I’m still trying out new client software (nothing, I repeat, nothing handles images the way I want it to), so things may look funny, but c’est la vie…)

Dearest Torsten,

Whew. Mama is still backed up on posts, but I’m at least closing up the hole in my posts before 15 months, anyway.

This month’s post is going to be pitiful, mainly because I covered a whole lot of it in your 13 and 15 month posts, and this one just sort of sits in between one I wrote at the actual time (15 months) and one I wrote months later, and I don’t feel I have a lot to add.

Well, except cute pictures, of course.

You were still somewhere between little baby and toddler in this month, one minute running around with your new shoes, showing them off like the big boy you were becoming (and, in fact, sometimes fetching them when they were asked for), and the next needing lots of snuggling, cuddling, and occasionally sleeping space on one of us. (Don’t get me wrong – I hope you need lots of snuggling and cuddling for a long time to come)

Torsten, complete with new real big boy tennis shoes, bought in L.A.

Crashed out on Papa is full of warmth and comfort for you both

This was also a big teething and learning to make trouble month. Now that you were mobile and upright, you discovered that there were things to get into. Here you are, for example, having dumped all of the nice clean laundry on the floor. And because teething babies need soothing while getting into trouble, you brought Boppy and this silicone teeth-brushing gadget we referred to as “teethy thing” along for the ride.

Exploring gravity is fun, but even Super Baby needs to soothe his gums sometimes...

Papa was away for part of this month for some sort of work-related thing (I don’t remember anymore, but it’s not important), and so you and Mama went and did things together, because that is what Mamas and Torstens do.

This month held our first trip to the zoo where you actually kind of understood what was going on. Usually, before this, you were just interested in the wheels on the strollers and wagons. Lions held no interest for you.

This time, the monkeys were pretty cool, the lions were alright, but then… then you discovered two things – the train (pretty cool) and the carousel (ohmygodthisisthebestthingeverletmetakeitapartandseehowitworks!!!!!!!!!!!!). Mama was glad we were zoo members and got a discount on carousel tickets, because you did not want to get off. There was so much to see… the cool animals to sit on (ok), the cool animals to sit on while going round and round (pretty good), going round and round (awwwwesome), going up and down while going round and round (are you serious? is this even possible? Mama, you did not tell me the world was this cool.), and then, and this is the most important part, mechanical stuff going on overhead which had something to do with going up and down while you were going round and round, and you were going to figure it out if it was the last thing you did.

We went on several times, and even got a freebie, because not all that many people were at the zoo on a weekday afternoon in January. You had absolutely no interest in anything else after that, except for a quick train ride (which unfortunately provided an excellent view of the carousel, so back on we went…), but it was a lot of fun for us both.

Unfortunately, these pictures only show that you weren’t happy with getting off (and how scary Mama can be), not how much fun you were having, but still, it was pretty cool riding around with only Mama’s hands at your waist to support you.

I am NOT getting off. And will someone get this crazy woman away from me?

You'd never guess he was having fun, but he was... just a bit, er, tired...

Of course, this was Denver, and so five days later, it snowed. (Papa was, I think, still gone. These pictures all took place pre-shovelling, because what’s the fun of going out in shovelled snow?)

Here we see the difference, though, between Torsten in the snow at 13 months and Torsten in the snow at 14 months. You were much, much more coordinated, and you had much, much more fun.

First you explored the back garden (normally a wilderness with no snow, but now ripe for stomping destruction!)…

Ah, the first explorer to reach the wild west (side of the house, that is...)

Stomping in pristine, unbesmirched snow...

You were clearly having a better time than during previous snowfalls, and felt pretty confident.

King of the Backyard

Well, until you realized you had snow up to your butt.

Mama? My butt is cold...

But you got out of it ok…

Hrm... to attempt the forbidding front yard, or not?

And, in fact, you decided to leave the backyard and come around to the front to explore…

Rosy-cheeked cutie

It was such fun, in fact, that you tried to throw snow at Mama, who was too far away to hit, but clearly you are equipped with the snowball fight gene. Papa would be so proud

Stop taking pictures or I'll totally throw this snow at you!

But tromping through snow in a snowsuit with fuzzy snow slippers attached rather than boots is a lot of work for a little guy who hasn’t been walking for very long. After 15 minutes or so, rosy-cheeked and tired, we decided to give it a rest.

Ok, now that the yard has been conquered, I think I want to go in...

All done!

And so that was your fourteenth month. I’m sure there was more to it, and I feel bad for not capturing it at the time, but even in these pictures you can totally see that your personality was emerging even more strongly, and I see a whole lot of Torsten at 21 months in these Torsten pictures, though there’s still enough of the baby to make me nostalgic

Love,

Mama