It took us a while to acknowledge it, but Brayden really is growing up. Over the past few weeks he’s given up the playpen, and the crib, and his little bouncy chair, and the booster seat at the table…which means there’s almost no way to contain him anymore, so things are interesting. He’s a lot more mischievous than Justin ever was (Brayden’s favorite thing to do these days is run off giggling in the exact opposite direction I want him to go) and it frustrates me to no end, but c’est la vie.

He babbles all the time now (sounds like a constant stream of “duckaduckaducka”) but still no real words, so it’s easy to forget how much he actually understands. He knows most of his letters and numbers — no surprise, really, given that Justin is obsessed with both. He’s also capable of responding to simple commands, but the real issue is whether he chooses to comply. Sigh. And he’s not even two yet…