Torsten/picture catchup post #10: 17 Months – Letting go just a little

(N.B. The usual disclaimer – this is written 5 months after the fact)

Dear Torsten,

On reading this you may well wonder why it only contains three – yes three – pictures of you.

Well…

1. We were all sick as dogs. In fact, in the pictures, you are still sick as a dog, though getting over it.
2. The weather was really crappy while we were all sick as dogs. In fact, in the pictures, you had just been through a ton of falling slushy snow and rain while sick as a dog but getting over it (we were soaked to the bone).
3. We were busy. As in really busy. Papa was out of town (twice, I think), and this month (I think… hard to tell in retrospect), many important things got decided and were acted on, not least of which was a future move across the planet.
4. You were with Sherice in the mornings, which meant Mama was doing other things than terrorizing you with a camera, and by month’s end, you were with Sherice for a large chunk of the day a few days a week.
5. Did I mention we were all sick as dogs?

Sesame Street Live: Sick Torsten is still thrilled by flashing lights, buttons, and spinning Elmo

That does not, however, mean this month was unimportant. This month, we started going places without a stroller sometimes, which meant you got to ride the bus and the light rail with nothing but your lion backpack keeping you down (you love that backpack, by the way – see pictures below… Mama was always opposed to these things because the idea of kids on a leash was disturbing, but you were just old enough that freedom while you were out and about was a most excellent thing). You walked almost the whole way to the park (and sometimes back), and you were just generally more capable. It was an exciting – and often frightening – time.

Even sick, he wants to know how it works...

You were having a really great time with Sherice and her son as well, riding around in a stroller for two snuggled up under a blanket and going to the library for storytime, and Mama had to, for the first time, start letting go of her more-and-more independent little boy. (But only just a little…)

C'mon Mama... after going out in the crappy weather with a nasty cold, you don't really expect a smile, do you?

By month’s end, you were spending several hours a day with Sherice and her family, and you and Mama both had a hard time dropping you off in the morning. Sherice was good to us both, though, cuddling you until you calmed down to play with her little boy and his toys and giving Mama a call the first day to tell me you were absolutely, totally fine. Having a few hours a day to get things done and clear my head was fantastic for everyone – it made me a better Mama – and you got to be with new people and do new things we didn’t always do at home.

Still, you weren’t going there full-time really and you and Mama still got to do plenty of things together. The pictures in this post are from our outing to see Elmo Live at DU. You and I were still pretty sick, and the weather was incredibly uncooperative (it did not help that Mama left the stroller behind, thinking it would be easier not to have to deal with it at the show), but we had a good time. In the few weeks before the show, you’d really developed an attachment to Elmo and Sesame Street, the only TV you were really allowed to watch (ok, except Keith and Rachel, but that was more a matter of you being in the room with it than watching it, your huge crush on Rachel Maddow notwithstanding), and we had fun. I don’t think it was quite as much fun for you as I thought it might be – you recognized characters and enjoyed the show, but you were sick and it went on a little too long – though I must say you were interested and engaged for most of it.

Not that you’ll probably care, but here’s what it looked like:

Elmo, the Count and Abby

Why does this look more like a scene from The Full Monty than Sesame Street?

Oscar, Mama's favorite

With all the dancing and singing, Torsten hung in there pretty well

So anyhow, that was the seventeenth month. I’m sorry I don’t have more for you, though really, it was a whirlwind month and hard to describe, but after all of the posts I’ve put up with tons of text and pictures, maybe we all need a breather

Love you much, little one…

Mama