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

You just try telling me he doesn’t look like a two- or three-year-old in most of these… and then I will tell you he is 18 months old and three feet tall. (Ok, actually, only the toothbrushing one makes him look older, but still…)

Click to embiggen, and enjoy

Seriously, Mama... no pictures please... I'm busy making a mess.

Baby behind, watching Rachel Maddow (seriously. T is in LOVE with Rachel.)

Dr. Teeth grins for the camera

The last ride with Papa in the front bike seat (we sold it, as T is outgrowing it)

That will have to hold everyone over for a while. We’re busy busy here at Haus Grothoff…