First of all, can we have a big WOO HOO for Mama, who is finally caught up with her Torsten posts?

I thought we could. Woo hoo!

Of course, if I asked you to say, “Woo hoo, Mama!” right now, you would in fact say “Woo hoo, Mama!”, which is great, except that you are asleep and I want to keep it that way.

In any event, you are one busy kid these days.

You are obsessed with Mama and Papa’s computers, especially if they are on and you are not supposed to be touching them. Mama has taken to running TuxType for you so that you can at least productively destroy my keyboard (and also, she likes to hear you say, “Tux eat fish? `licious??” while she’s making breakfast), but you are something of a chaos machine these days, and you are just as likely to pitch my mouse (repeatedly) across the room to assess its aerodynamic properties as you are to use it to do something bad to whatever program I am running (and you have figured out that there is a correlation between what you do with the mouse and what happens on the screen, so we are in trouble).

Torsten takes over Mama's machine

Using this mouse as a telepathic amplification device, Torsten pwns Mama's machine...

This week started with the usual mundane household nonsense, but quickly progressed back to stress and havoc because 1) Mama found a job, and 2) Mama found childcare for you. It’s enough to make anyone a little dizzy.

Like father, like son...

Our last weeks have been mostly filled with paperwork and errands and starting the orientation phase with the Tagesmutter (“Day Mother”, which is a home daycare worker, though ours actually works for the neighborhood help office of the city C and I work in, so it’s a bit more regulated), but that’s been enough to throw a wrench into our routine.

Still, you’ve handled it all beautifully, even the few hours a morning you’ve had to spend away from Mama the last two weeks. You’re a good kid.

How can anyone resist that smile?

You’re also learning things at the speed of light. One day you’re interested in screwdrivers (and in fact, if you see them and aren’t allowed to play with them, you’ll cry, “screwdrivers!” mournfully, as if you’re long-lost buddies with the toolbox and a cruel world is keeping you apart), and the next you’ve figured out how to unlock the cabinet doors by yourself. Your speech has absolutely exploded, and you’re asking for things in full sentences and trying to explain complex ideas to us. You amaze me every single day.

Papa and Torsten set up the new bicycle seat for use on Mama's bike too

Torsten checks Papa's handiwork

Torsten issues directions

Torsten shows Papa how it's done

Working together

He looks about six here... *sigh*

Big helper

Finishing touches

You’ve also started to pretend a lot, which is fun to see. You really like to play with Mama and Papa, and you have definite ideas about how it’s going to proceed.

In control of the Torstentown railroad

In the middle of it all

Plotting...

Sadly, the local residents did not have enough infrastructure dollars to prepare for Hurricane Torsten and paid the ultimate price

You’re full of silliness and goodness, which is good, because those two-year-old tantrums you’re working up to can be heinous. The smiles keep balance in the universe

Mama's Funny Bunny

Still, we do spend a lot of the day doing the same old things.

Here is your old friend, the washer, for example.You know that this screen, at the moment, says, “Four-Oh!” (which is also our house number, which is how you know it), that the thing in the upper right is a “key! lock?”, and that the thing next to the key is, “Lunch! `Tatoes?”, which makes me laugh every time you say it.

The thing to the left of the key is apparently "Lunch... `Tatoes!"

You know lots of other things, of course. You’re starting to learn colors, and so one of the ways I keep you from inviting yourself into the neighbor ladies’ houses (you’ve done this before) is to tell you we live in the apartment building with the blue door and the 40. We have a grand old time walking through our apartment complex with you telling me what color doors you see, and when it’s a blue one, you try to tell me what house number it is (which you do get right sometimes!!!), and I try very hard to convince you that you don’t live at the neighbor’s houses and that you shouldn’t push the buttons.

Or at least I did, because in the last week or so, if I ask you a question like, “Is that house with the brown door Torsten’s house?”, you’ll look at me as if I’m that poor, simple-minded Mama you just can’t take out in public, shake you’re head sagely, and say, “Nooooo…” (“Silly Mama” implied purely by tone). There’s complicated stuff brewing in that brain of yours, kiddo…

Mr. Know-It-All

Now, one of your favorite things is watching the washing machine (or “round-and-round”, as you call it, even though you are perfectly capable of saying and have often said “washing machine”), and so we spend a few minutes each day doing that. Well, we did, until you figured out how to disengage the safety mechanism, so now you watch it from the comfort of my lap.

Favorite activities: Watching the "Round-and-Round" and sabotaging the safety system on the washing machine

We load the dishwasher together, and read books together, and watch the train pass together if we’re near the tracks, and really, it had started to feel as if we had a routine of sorts going.

But now… now we’ll have to find a new routine. You really seem okay with it, and after seeing you with the other kids at the Tagesmutter, I think you actually really need it. This time, I think Mama’s going to be the one who has a little bit of a rough time letting go.

Kisses for Muumi are always welcome...

Fortunately, I know that at the end of the day, I’ll have my Boo Boo Bear back to give me hugs and kisses.

Torsten loves Moomintroll more than he loves the rest of us combined

Even if that Boo Boo Bear is very creative about now having to go to bed these days… you’ve started to learn the words to the James Taylor songs I’ve sung you ever since you were a baby, and are starting to ask for them specifically, you’ll spend 20 minutes saying, out of the blue, “Funny bunny!” and then laughing so contagiously that I have to cover my face so that you don’t know I’m laughing too, and you want endless back and tummy rubbing.

This has been worse the last week, of course, when you and Papa and I all had the swine flu and Mama was terrified something was going to happen to you; I figured you deserved all the back and tummy rubs you could get while you were sick, but you know what? You deserve them when you’re not, too, and most of the time you get them, even though I know you’re stalling. You’ll be two in a month, and my baby is turning into a big boy. Maybe Mama still needs the tummy rubs too

I love you very much, my little guy. I’m sorry if this isn’t the best letter ever, but I had a lot of catching up to do.

Love,

Mama

Unfortunately, this is the second time I’ve had to write this post, because Zoundry Raven, which is now really not on the list of my favorite blog editors, ate all of my changes and wouldn’t let me save.

This means, practically speaking, that I am not going to write it all again – not because I don’t love you, but because I want to be caught up with Torsten posts.

This month has been much less of a change than the last because we’re been getting all settled here, but it’s still been a change.

See, you’ve been spoiled for a while now, having both Papa and Mama with you during the day for a couple of months, and this month, that came to an end as Papa went back to work.

Now, Papa is wildly happy with his job, and that makes everyone happy, but for you and I, there’s been some adjustment period. Mama hasn’t had to be home all day with a toddler with no outside assistance since her own little brother was three, and that was almost thirty years ago, so it doesn’t count as recent experience. The days are sometimes hard to fill, and you are much busier and much more capable than you were before we started with Sherice that it’s just a whole different ball of wax.

Cute, even with a few tears

Big blue eyes

Last of the teeth coming in on the bottom (for a while)

And, of course, Mama is going to have to go back to work soon herself, something she has some mixed feelings about (like every Mama does). On the one hand, I think it’s really important that Mama gets to do some things that are important to her and broaden her own horizons – it’ll make me a better Mama too.

On the other hand, I will miss a lot of things.

I will miss your smiles and cuddles and snuggles all day.

I’ll miss your huge belly laughs, and the way you said, “More! Again again again!” when you want Mama to do something again that makes you laugh some more.

I’ll miss your silliness…

Torsten has some big shoes to fill

But Super T does it with a smile

And playing hide-and-seek…

Where's Torsten?

Why, in Torsten's House, of course... didn't you see the door?

And I’ll miss our walks to the store every morning, Mama carrying her Little Red Riding Hood basket, and you pushing your stroller until you get to the big street (at which point you climb into the stroller so we can cross), buying a big grainy roll for each of us to eat on the way home.

I’ll miss tricking you into going the way I want to go by running ahead of you and hiding just where you can see me, and your squeals of delight when you “find” Mama.

I’ll miss it all, I promise you.

Of course, that is not to say that just because Papa is gone all day, you don’t get to do things with him too. You and he are both thrilled to death about being able to take bike rides again, and most afternoons and on the weekends, the two of you are on the bicycle and off to nearby parks and castles and lakes and forests. “Papa bike? Helmet on!” is a popular refrain at Haus Grothoff.

Hrm... mechanical object... must be exploited

Clearly this is the main mechanism for troublemaking...

Ha HAH! I am here to pump... you up!

Can we bike now, Papa?

Most importantly this month is what a character you’ve become. You tell us what you want and what you don’t and when you want it, and it’s all good.

And you know how to be silly on purpose:

You haven't been eating Nutella properly until you're wearing it on your face. All over your face.

Cheese!

(N.B. You know that tooth you broke? It’s your right front top tooth in the above pictures.)

You’re changing so fast, and our baby is almost completely gone now. Of course, you’ll always be Mama’s baby, but let’s face it… now that sometimes, out of the blue, you decide you want to pee on the toilet of your own accord and we’re not even potty-training, it can’t be long before you’re up to big kid status.

But I have to remind myself that even if you look older than two, you’re still not even two yet, and there’s no point in rushing it. It will go fast enough, I know.

Tired out...

Mama and Papa's cute little guy

Love you to bits, Super T…

- Mama

Boy, was this month one for the record books.

It did not start out easy, of course, since it started out with you feeling like you’d been dropped on another planet. Your bed was different (Papa’s and Tante Conni’s amd Oma’s old baby bed, in fact, and it was one you could get into and out of on your own), your room was different (still in the same room with Mama and Papa, but bigger, more Torsten-friendly, and looking suspiciously like Opa-and-Oma’s attic), and there were these two people you didn’t know very well suddenly very present in your lives. The last bit thrilled you to bits, but all the change was a bit much.

It started, though, with one of your first forays into Opa and Oma’s backyard.

It was, in fact, on our first day in Germany.

Papa had promised Mama that since she’d taken you alone to Germany and spent almost a full week taking care of you alone before that, that she was going to get a full 24 hours where no one was going to bother her after we got to Wuppertal.

This plan did not take into account the fact that you might fall off their back step on the first day and break one of your front teeth.

Now that you’ve got a few more teeth and we’ve all had some time to get used to it, it’s not such a big thing, but at the time, Mama and Papa were devastated. You were remarkably chilled-out about it, though your lip was bleeding and you were poking it with your tongue a lot, and in the end, the dentist said it was all right, even if it looked less-than-appealing, and that at your age, we couldn’t do much about it anyway.

I admit it – once we knew you were ok, Papa and I couldn’t avoid thinking how sad it was that this happened to our beautiful little guy. But you’re beautiful anyway, and now it kind of adds character. (Pictures will have to wait until a later post – there are some at 22 and 23 months, but we didn’t get a good shot of it until then)

The first couple of weeks in Wuppertal involved a lot of Torsten-gets-to-know-and-play-with-Opa-and-Oma time, Mama readjustment time (I had a lot of internal trouble for reasons that shouldn’t matter to you, but the important bit is that it meant that Mama was not always in great spirits at first), and Torsten-gets-to-go-to-a-lot-of-awesome-German-playgrounds time, which was nothing but good for you.

You are, after this month at Oma and Opa’s, wild about your grandparents, and that makes me nothing but happy. I know that with distance, it would have hard for you to be this close to them, and they seem to be thrilled to have a Torsten as a grandchild they can see more often. (They should be – everyone should want Torsten as a grandchild! (not everyone gets to, but that’s another story…)) But it is not easy for parents to move into the grandparents’ house (nor is it easy for the grandparents, and they provided us with a safe haven which was a wonderful place for you, for which I am profoundly grateful. We could not have done this move without them), and it was a fairly stressful time. Papa was still waiting on pins-and-needles to find out if the job prospects we’d been crossing our fingers for would come through, and Mama was still feeling a little bit out-of-place, and mostly, we were just killing time hoping for word and waiting for some talks and interviews Papa had.

And at first, it was tough for you too. You stopped really eating, and certainly not by yourself, you went back on the bottle you were almost through with when we were in Denver, and you were definitely clingier. It was ok – we’d expected a lot of this kind of stuff – but it was hard to watch. But you did eventually adjust, and you were always excited to see Opa and Oma (who I think you found a little overwhelming at first, but remember, you’d been almost exclusively with Mama and Papa at that point), so it all worked out.

Unfortunately, our only pictures of these few weeks come from the end of the month, but that was the exciting part anyway.

See, Papa had an interview in Austria. And at around the same time, he was going to find out about whether he would get a grant which could have landed him anywhere in Germany, and one of the places he was strongly considering was Munich. Since he had to go to Austria anyway, and since Mama really didn’t want the two of us to stay alone in Wuppertal for several days, we decided we’d all go to Austria, you and I would tour the town where Papa was interviewing, and then we’d all come to Munich to have a look around (if Papa got the grant and was going to consider Munich seriously, we would have some more information to decide with, and if he didn’t, we’d have gotten a nice couple of days in Munich – win win ).

And so the three of us packed ourselves onto a train and discovered the miracle of… The Kleinkindabteil (Small children’s compartment).

Breakfast with Papa in the Kleinkindabteil

Woo hoo! These guys flip up and down... excellent...

Now, if I can just get these open, the train will be mine!

Oh, the Kleinkindabteil… it was the most wonderful thing ever. Now, I have since learned that on most trains it is not this wonderful, and that it’s particularly wonderful on trains going between Germany and Austria, but still… It rocked.

See, we were dreading a long ride with a toddler who wanted to move, and when we made seat reservations, there was this “Kleinkindabteil” preference field we could check. And practically speaking, what it meant was that for the vast majority of the trip, you, me, and Papa had a compartment all to ourselves where you could run around and play without a) destroying the train, and b) getting lost or hurt.

It was wonderful. I mean, it had a rocking motorcycle for your climbing pleasure, and seats you could move up and down…

Ready to ride

It made you very happy

This goes up and down too, see Mama?

You need to look the other way while I do this important sneaky business over here...

You played…

Playing on the floor

Mama dreamt of wine…

Mmmm... wine grapes...

You were very very silly…

No really, these are my *hands*

Captain Silly entertains passing German livestock

We napped…

Passed. Out. (Mama must love you, because the Internet did not need to see HER like this...)

And then we were there. St. Poelten was quite lovely, and the view from our hotel wasn’t bad, either…

St. Poelten from our room window

You and I walked around and enjoyed our day, but it wasn’t really enough time to get to see that much of a very old, nice city.

One day, two nights, and then… we were off to Munich. (No, Mama didn’t take tourist pictures there either, sorry)

Playing around in Munich at the hotel

You have a great time in hotel rooms – don’t ask me why, except that there are a lot of doors to open and shut and buttons to push and new things to explore, so it was all ok with you.

Cuteness

My two favorite peas in a pod

And when I say new buttons to push, nothing, and I repeat nothing, beats the toilet…

Muahahaha... the power, it is mine!

You never had access to the toilet in our house in Denver, and now that you know how to flush them, you just… can’t… stop.

See Mama? I can flush too!

We really enjoyed Munich; the only downside was that you were a bit sick, coughing at night until your tummy decided to return your dinner, but we weren’t too worried, and you were lively enough during the day.

Papa was suitably impressed by his potential new workplace, you and I took a nice trip to Garching to see about the housing situation near the Research Center, and mostly, you and I just enjoyed trains.

And then Papa found an awesome playground near the Theresienweise, which was happy for all.

You rode a motorcycle…

"Mococycle", as you call them

And swung on one of the big-boy swings you’ve been using all month in Europe…

On the big boy swings and smiling for the camera

American playgrounds rarely have these views...

And Papa took a nap…

Childcare, by Papa

And you guys played with sand…

Wait... mechanical stuff AND sand? Count me in, Papa...

Now if I just connect this to the flux capacitor...

It was really lovely.

My two boys at the Theresienweise

Hair!

Cutie

Of course, then you decided Mama should ride a motorcycle, and Mama cannot refuse you anything…

Am I being paid for this?

Maybe I could do it myself..

Then some older boy wanted to come along and play with you. Now, I don’t know why this is, but older children are always wanting to play with you, and by older, I mean much older. Boys, girls, it doesn’t matter… Torsten Monster is fun for all!

Swinging with the big boys

Swinging with Papa

At first it was just swinging, but this is Germany, and so the football had to appear sometime…

Fussball!

You actually played, and Mama had a great time watching – and laughing.

Whoosh...

Torsten wants to get in on the action

Hrm... now that I've got it, what do I do with it?

Yes, we decided we liked Munich very much indeed.

Ok, that's it, we're moving to this playground, ok, Mama and Papa?

It doesn’t seem like a bad place at all for you to grow up, and that’s a very happy thing.

Of course, now, at the end of the month, that you seemed so settled, you know we were going to throw a wrench into the works, but that comes next month…

Love you,

Mama

Dearest Torsten,

I think this month must have been one of the most confusing of your life. It was rough on everyone, and this time, you noticed.

Oh, it started out ok, and you were cool with life, your daily trip to Sherice’s, and everyone making trouble around the house. Even though you and Mama were getting on a plane on the last day of the month to fly halfway around the world together, there was a lot to do before that, and the havoc started at the beginning of the month.

At first, it was the usual playing and troublemaking… as I said in my previous month’s letter, most of the changes were taking place in the basement, where you rarely went. Upstairs, all was as usual.

Super T, in the kitchen

But a few days into the month, things started to disappear.

Like the couch.

You know, the couch you played on every day and climbed on every day and even watched Olbermann with Mama and Papa on every day?

You went off to Sherice’s one day, and then the couch was gone. This kind of shook you up, and you started being a bit more fussy. Then again, so did everyone. You were really starting to talk and eat and be yourself, but at the same time, the world started to shift under your feet, and it make things hard.

And then, though, we all got sick. Really sick. As in I-think-we-had-the-swine-flu sick. (N.B. After I wrote this bit, we appear to have gotten the actual swine flu, much later, so I guess it was just some random nastiness) Boy, were we sick. So sick, in fact, that you stayed home for a few days with Mama, even though she really needed the time to pack. Sick Torstens are sweet and cuddly and lovey, but it’s just hard to watch a little guy be so ill.

Sick as a dog (swine flu or allergies? No one knows...), cuddling Papa's Australian penguin

I admit I probably missed more of Torsten this month than I would have liked. We had to take you to Sherice’s for more full days than usual, and we were busy busy busy trying to make sure stuff got boxed up and administrative stuff was in order and all of that.

Still, we got to have some fun in the house, even as furniture continued to disappear…

While Papa is away, cute Torsten (and his toothbrush) will play!

Teethy grin! (Unfortunately, mere weeks after that, one of your beautiful front teeth got chipped...)

How can anyone resist this guy?

When you have days that look like this, and random strangers are popping by all the time to take stuff (some of it yours) away, it does tend to upset your sense of equilibrium, though, and at some point it became unavoidable that you were in the middle of it.

Selling off your life sucks.

There were a lot of lasts this month.

Last times in our favorite parks, last times seeing our friends, last time playing in the backyard…

A last look at the backyard

Hardest on you and Papa, however, was the last time riding with your first bicycle seat. For a long time, you and Papa had been riding around Denver with you sitting in front of him, singing and watching and enjoying the view, and Papa was really sad the last time he got to ride with you before he sold the seat…

Papa and Torsten return from their last bike tour with the front bike seat

Biking bliss - hi Mama!

Still hating the helmet, after all these months...

And of course, any time with Papa has been good time. Papa’d been very busy all quarter, and at the end of last month was in Germany giving a talk; a week before we left the house to go to Germany, he was away again, this time in Brazil, so buddy time was precious. (It always is )

Best buddies forever

Farewell

In addition to being sick, it was also hot in our oven-of-a-house, and so Popsicles were in order. You decided that any and all popsicles must belong to you, and preferably one in each hand, so Papa got smart…

Heat and recovering from illness/relapse made popsicles a must

Lime is yummy, even for sick, tired little (and big) monsters

No one wants a dangerously hungry Torsten Monster on their hands.

RARRR! Now you see how I got two... I scared Papa and stole his as well as my own. And I'll chomp you too!

The last week was the worst, frankly, for all of us. Our caregiver had a family tragedy, Mama needed to get rid of all the furniture and finish packing and cleaning, Torsten needed a lot of love and reassurance, and did I mention Papa was in Brazil?

Mama was going nuts. And you were not unaware that things were not all ok. Fortunately, you were very sweet and accomodating, and there was one benefit – all the stuff being gone gave you a lot of room to play.

Hardest for me, strangely enough, was saying goodbye to the rocking chair where I’d put you to sleep almost every naptime and bedtime since you were born. The damned thing squeaked, but it was our snuggly cuddly place. No more was I going to be able to pick you up, put your too-tall-for-this form across Boppy, give you a bottle, and sing you to sleep while we rocked, head-to-head or head-to-shoulder or head-to-neck.

Byebye, rocka-rocka chair...

But in the end, we did get it all packed up. Towards the end, you were at Sherice’s all day, and then Mama would take you out until bedtime, since the house was so disasterous and so much needed to be packed. The last day, you went to Sherice’s, and we cleaned out the rest of the place and all headed to a hotel. Papa asked if we should bring you back to say goodbye, I figured that since you were boarding three planes alone with Mama the next day, you didn’t need anymore shocks to your system. Mama was ready to cry, Papa was jetlagged, and you were confused, but in the end, we made it out of Denver.

Table gone, chairs gone, high-chair disassembled... what's going on here?

The flights really went as well as could be expected, but it was still tough. The only real trial was the domestic flight from Denver to Minneapolis. It wasn’t actually hard to fly with you, it was just really hard to get your carseat settled on the plane, and the Northwest stewardess wasn’t really all that nice about it (and let’s not start on the passengers, who were downright evil. I’m not sure what they expected from a solo-travelling woman with a toddler, but you put up with it a lot better than I did, because you are an awesome kid The Icelandair staff on the first overseas flight were at least super-helpful about it, even if it was an annoying thing to install. I’d done as much homework as I could do about it, but it was still a real pain.

In truth, you slept through a lot of the first two flights (and the entire flight from Minneapolis to Reykjavik), so I can’t complain. There was even a playground in the airport for our long Minneapolis layover, although a bunch of high school students came in to try to take it over. It got much easier when the Icelandair staff, even when I told them I’d bought a SEAT for your carseat, told me the plane was too full for me to take the seat on. You’re so big and I was so tired that I just thought, “Hell, I’m not going to fight this, I’ve been dreading installing that thing again for the past 6 hours”, and so I let them gate-check it and you sat happily in your seat with your seatbelt on and played cars until we got to Frankfurt.

I’d never want to try to entertain a toddler on a plane again (your favorite thing was dropping your cars where Mama couldn’t reach them and then crying when they were gone), but it went as well as it could have. That said, 24 hours of solo travel with a little guy is NRBM (Not Recommended By Mama) in terms of sheer stress on the parent’s part. It’s not like I could sleep

Anyway, in the end, we got here, and we got you here, which was one of our biggest objectives. Papa met us at the baggage claim (after dubious negotiations with the customs and immigration folks to let him reenter), and Opa was waiting to help take our luggage, and the three of us and our Mountain of Luggage ™ got on the train and met Oma in Wuppertal.

I have to admit to you that at the end of it all I was so tired I didn’t notice was what going on to be able to tell you about it, but you were happy to see Papa and Opa, and in the end, we all ended up tucked into bed upstairs in Wuppertal, not travelling any longer.

We may not have had a permanent place to live (or even a job to come to), but we did have a place to rest for a little while, and boy, did we all need it.

I think it’s worked out for the best, though, little guy, and now that you’re thriving here, I don’t regret it for a minute.

Lots of love,

Mama

Dearest Torsten,

This was a big month for all. Mama and Papa were preparing to move out of the house at the end of the following month, you became so independent that you started taking us for walks, and you finally, finally learned how to eat on your own (note that after our move to Europe, you promptly sort-of-forgot about that, so we miss it). In fact, in this last activity, you even started to find some enjoyment.

Self-feeding with a real (and very poky) fork

Getting it into that mouth-hole-thingie takes coordination

CHOMP! SUCCESS!

Your ability to efficiently make an enormous mess grew quite quickly as well, which didn’t much help, since Mama and Papa had also started to try to sort out the house so that we could eventually move.

Any mess Mama can make, Torsten can make bigger

Your personality was out in spades by this time as well. You were (and are) charming, curious, and very silly.

You finally started to leave the bottle behind as well, and weren’t just interested in sippy cups, but in anyone’s bottles of anything you could get your hands on.

If it's Mama's, I must steal it, even if it's almost as big as I am...

And did I mention you were charming? Even with a face full of teething drool, you were (and are) still totally charming. Here, you decide to share your car with Mama, which, given your absolute obsession with all things wheeled, was no small thing.

Teething drool. Does the teething never end?

The Loch Ness Smile is back. You'll NEVER get it in a clear picture, Mama!

Sharing his car... he's a very nice baby indeed

But, as I said, you really started to come into your own this month. You really started to know what you want, and you were able to express it. You’d walk up, hold out your hand, and say, “Hold me?”, which was Torstenish for “Come with me – I need you to get something for me/see something/go somewhere with me”, and you’d do the same thing and say, “Walk!” when you’d decided it was time for us to go walk down the sidewalk, hand-in-hand, to see the neighborhood.

The days of content strollerhood were over.

Life is hard.

By the end of this month, things were really nuts. Packing was in full gear, as we were moving out of the house at the end of our lease no matter what, and, in fact, Mama and Papa had basically decided we’d treat our vacation to Germany as a move regardless of what happened. The idea was that if things worked out the way we were praying for, we would already be here and our affairs would be in order (while we had time to put them in order), and if they did not, well, we were planning to move anyway. This made for a busy Mama and Papa, but since most of what was being packed up were books and study stuff and other things you rarely saw because they were in the basement, it was no big deal. We started to sell off small stuff that we weren’t really using anymore anyone on Craigslist to make packing as easy as possible, but nothing you saw everyday was effected at this point. All you probably really noticed was that Mama and Papa were a bit busy and stressed, and quite frankly, you were having way too much fun at Sherice’s to really notice. Papa started to take you over to Sherice’s in the morning on his bike, and you totally stopped crying when you were going over there. In fact, you started to say “Sheece!” and “Doggie!” (they have a dog) on weekends and mornings when we didn’t have you over there, hoping we’d hop on the bus or a bike and just go. You were really like a part of their family too, and that made it so much easier for Mama or Papa to happily drop you off there at the beginning of the day.

It wasn’t all work and stress though… although Papa was extra busy because his quarter wasn’t over yet, we did get to spend some fun time together as a family, and you had finally hit the age where we really could do family stuff and everyone could consciously enjoy the togetherness.

At the light rail station with Papa

Buddies

Mama and Torsten wait for Quisha, David and Madyson's train to arrive

Mama kisses are still welcome

Better still (especially for Mama), one of Mama’s bestest friends in the world (one she’s known for, egads… at least 25 years now) and her husband came to visit with her new baby (who is about 6 months younger than you are), and we all had a good time. You still weren’t really at the “playing with other kids” stage, but it was really nice to meet Madyson, and David and LaQuisha are always awesome to see. Since I moved away from Milwaukee a long time ago, it just was a lot of fun to see our kids playing together, since I rarely have the opportunity to hang out with old friends.

The pictures below are at the end of our playdate at Wash Park, where the two of you swung and explored and generally tired yourselves (and us) out. You’re both extreme cuties

Madyson and Torsten at the end of a good afternoon playdate

Tired out, but at least her shoes are interesting

I know I keep talking about the eating thing, but this was a really big deal. We started to be able to have meals together in the morning before you left for Sherice’s, and things started to seem kind of… well… normal. Except for the whole moving thing. Funny how things seem to come together before they are about to fall apart, but anyhow… In the pictures at the top of the page, you were eating, but we had to put the food on the spoon or fork for you. Not so by the end of the month:

And now, T. Monster Grothoff will instruct you in the fine art of eating breakfast...

First, pray to the gods. All of them. This is hard work.

Then shovel scrambled eggs into your mouth. Examine the spoon carefully to ensure they are gone.

And then, on to the next bite. See folks? Easy...

This meant more family meals, when we could find time for them, and we even got to enjoy them in the fine weather outside in the backyard at the beginning of our last month in Denver:

Family dinners are much more fun now that Torsten can eat on his own...

Of course, removing the toppings from the pizza is quite important

Ah, tomato bread on Papa's lap... delicious...

Whatchu lookin' at?

And for my next trick, I'll throw this plate onto the ground...

Little boy in the big world

Bicycles! Wheels and chains to play with... bliss!

Eating with Mama isn't nearly as much fun

This was the last month (as of the writing of this letter) that things were stable in your life… you had your favorite foods, the house was totally your own domain (with very little to say “no” to, because we’d set it up that way), you were well-acquainted with all of your toys and all of the places we could go, and our routines were fairly set. You’re still a happy little boy, but this was probably the most confident and comfortable month for you as a toddler.

Mmmm... yummy hand...

More Rachel, I suspect...

Yup, more Rachel. And nothing goes better with Rachel Maddow than a cereal bar and a ride on one's push-car...

Gimme that camera thing, Mama...

As the next month began, it wasn’t very confident or comfortable for anyone, and by the time it ended, I suspect all three of us were going insane… but you are a little trooper, you made it through it all with flying colors, and all is well

Not much more to say on this one, but since I have three more months left to write before I’m caught up to today, I suspect that’s ok

I love you, little monster!

Mama

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

(N.B. This is yet another way-after-the-fact post with more pictures than content because my memory is bad and I’m trying to catch up. Yes, I know there are too many pictures. Forgive me. My son is cute. )

Dearest Torsten,

This month marked the end (sort of) of an era in our life. This was the last month where you were always home with Mama (and sometimes Papa) all the time as your sole caregivers, and so it sort of makes sense that there are so many pictures from this month, and not so many from the next.

Not to say that you didn’t have plenty to do at home… there was lots of playing and talking and cuddling and running, of course… and you were getting huge and were pretty much always into everything. We had to give up on our gated-in living room (the biggest playpen ever) and just let you take over the first floor of our house – every childproofer’s nightmare. SuperToddler had arrived!

Surrounded by toys, and the most interesting thing is the floor

Wide-eyed and cute in the outfit Verra gave him

Watching Rachel Maddow, yet again, still teething on his finger

Little Drummer Boy

Getting around with no trouble at all

And there were lots of trips to the park with Mama or Papa, which was always great fun (I suspect you enjoyed it more with Papa, though, because “swing” was one of the few words you would only say in German for a long time).

Swing fun at Alamo Placita

Back and forth

Swinging is serious business. So are his new huge-super-toddler shoes...

Snack time at the park - self feeding is good feeding

Getting those cheese crackers out of the bowl is hard

Success!

Munch munch munch

This was also a month where you really started to eat on your own a lot more. Oh, sure, it was finger food, mostly, but we’d been having such trouble getting you to want to eat food at all that this was actually a really good development.

Breakfast in front of the camera - cinnamon raisin bagels and a birthday video for Uncle Patrick

Leave me alone. I'm eating.

We also made a lovely little video and set of photos for your Uncle Patrick for his birthday. This kind of nonsense is probably one of the many reasons you were so thrilled when we started day care

Happy birthday, Uncle Patrick! Now will you please make your madwoman sister cut it out?

Ok, no, seriously guys... look at this woman's glazed smiling face... Cult member, anyone?

Still, though, there was fun stuff to do at home… even though Easter wasn’t for almost a month, we dyed Easter eggs and had a good time with it. Sure, you still didn’t really get was it about (though you like eggs, so I don’t think you cared), but it was fun and sort of messy, so all good. One of the hallmarks of this age is that you loved to pull things off of the table onto the floor (you still do, which drives me nuts), so I’m really surprised it wasn’t messier than it was. But you had your job (washing off the egg dipper and putting the occasional egg into the egg dye), and you were quite happy with both being able to get messy and to splash in the water you spilled (something (getting messy, that is) that after a summer with Oma, you enjoy much less, and it makes me a little sad).

Fun times.

Easter egg madness, just a little early...

Totally ready to dye eggs. And his crocodile shirt.

Torsten directs the dyeing process

Torsten directs the dyeing process

A true proficient, this little boy

Torsten and Mama decide what comes next

Hi Papa! Can I dye you?

End result, a bit fuzzy, with a Torsten egg

Pretty eggs

And of course, what would a Torsten letter be without another round of snowsuit pictures? While this wasn’t the last snow of the year (next month’s letter will show a drenched Torsten after having gotten stuck in one of the last and slushiest of the bunch), it was one of the best to play in, and you and Papa made snowmen and shovelled together.

Papa apparently made a SnowTorsten

Torsten prepares to help out

Is there any snow inside to shovel, Mama?

Did I mention you were eating? Fruit and toast, mostly – you were big on texture (you still are) and meat just didn’t do it for you. The funny thing is that you almost always wanted two of whatever you were eating – one for each hand – but it was very cute.

This self-sufficient eating thing is great...

Strawberries are a morning favorite

Mama's sweetheart

The improved eating skills were important, of course, especially since someone else started to take care of you (though I’d say she is largely responsible for how much better they got over the next few months just because you were somewhere else and were hanging out with a big boy who ate real food all the time).

Things were getting busy around our house, and being a full-time Mama was both overwhelming for me and depriving you of some social time with others. Mama couldn’t even consider getting a job because there was no place for Torsten, and finding good available day care actually in Denver (as opposed to the suburbs) that was both affordable and not creepy was really tough – at day care centers, anyway. We couldn’t even get a call back from most places, and the Montessori school we visited that had a toddler program (Mama is a Montessori fan and you probably would enjoy the Montessori approach) was kind of flaky, didn’t really run year-round and had about 4 different versions of its prices and school schedule available. I just got kind of weird vibes about it (maybe it was ok, though I talked to another mother later, shortly before we left Denver, who had visited there and had the same kind of feelings, so who knows), and there seemed to be no other options. Alison, your weekly babysitter, was fantastic, but she had a real job during the day, so that wasn’t an option.

And then… then we found Sherice and her family. And they were a godsend. Oh, you couldn’t start going there right away because they were moving up to Denver and we couldn’t get down to where they were moving from without a car in order to have you start down there, but several mornings a week, Sherice and her almost-three-year-old would drive up and you guys would all spend the morning together. It was sort of a trial period, and you loved it. You guys took walks and went on the bus and went to the mall (the nearby mall had a neat little playground) and you had your first real friend and another trusted grownup to be with.

This was a good thing, because unbeknownst to anyone except Mama and Papa, there was other stuff going on that had the potential to shake up everyone’s life as well. See, Mama and Papa had been talking. And talking and talking and talking. We’d talked for a long time about maybe moving abroad someday, but we took a look at our situation and the world situation and decided to start thinking about it really hard about then. We’d thought about a lot of places, but for a lot of reasons, we were heavily considering moving back to Germany, and around this time is when we started to think about it as a very serious possibility. Mama had filed some applications and Papa had filed some applications and we were just waiting to see how things worked themselves out so we could make a decision about whether we would leave at all, and if so, when and how.

All of this was going on in the background on top of everyday life, so the next few months had a lot of stress in store for everyone. It was a really, really good thing that we had Sherice. You did fine, and Mama did fine, and everyone did fine, which is all anyone could ask for, right?

I will say, though, that I’m sorry we ended up throwing such a wrench into your life, because the end of this month started you into what I think you really thought was an enjoyable routine, and we ended up throwing that all into chaos in the middle of the summer. But more about that later.

(Life will of course hold more of these travails for our little family, but one thing you can be sure of – we will always love you.)

More Torsten letters soon! Mama is on a roll (with mustard and cheese)…

Love,

Mama

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

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

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)

In bed with the balloons Papa just brought him

Balloons!

Torsten *loves* the balloons...

Very pleased with his first present

The birthday boy is easy to please

Still entertained by the floatie things

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…)

Torsten and his guests

Checkin' out the presents

Tearing in...

More stuff to rip!

More ripping and tearing reveals a big foam Torsten chair

The paper is more interesting than the gift...

Ah, chaos...

Party boy takes a break

Cutie

Balls! Balls everywhere!

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…)

This was just after he'd grabbed the flame and put it out - candle time with Mama and Papa

This would have been a much cooler picture if the flash had gone off - Torsten blows out his candle (with Mama and Papa's help)

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

Party over, trying out the new chair

Relaxing, watching balloons...

Running around with the balloons

Playing with the butterfly balloon

Chasing butterflies

The butterfly balloon he loved so much

The other balloons

Even while playing with toys, the balloons are pretty interesting...

This bead-wire toy has been the source of more grownup tripping injuries than anything in the house, but he loves it...

Party's over, folks. Nothing to see here. I'm taking my balloon and going home...

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