Braden: Then & Now.

This is Braden on this exact day last year.

This is my boy this year:

He is still throwing fits. Already this morning he has hit me, pounded his own head against the floor and screamed more times than he has spoken.

He is so smart and articulate with his words yet quick to anger and frustrated inside.

He still bites. Only now he bites himself.

We are constantly talking about effective discipline and are always in a conversation about this boy. Nothing that we do with him works more than a handful of times. It's all touch and go and we are all learning all the time.

Braden exhausts me. But he is also the sweetest, most gentle boy when he wants to be. He sings to his baby sister and loves Nora deeply. He can be mean, loud and aggressive but he can also be loving and kind. It's a hard balance with this child of mine.

He is funny.

I mean laugh out loud funny. He says the most off-the-wall things that no one else would think of and he remembers EVERYTHING. He can hold a tune to any song that he hears once. He will sing it over and over and over. He repeats himself constantly and will not stop asking until he gets what he wants or will cry for [literally] hours if he doesn't. This is a hard pill to swallow for his dad & I because it's always loud and always demanding when it comes from the lips of our son.

One year ago today I was a ragged, frustrated, head over hills in love with him kinda mom.

This year nothing much has changed.

We are making it. I am in love with this boy.

It's hard yet rewarding.

Everyone always says, "It will get easier. He'll get easier."

It hasn't much. He hasn't much.

But it's ok. One day at a time and yet it's flying by.

Someday soon he'll be grown and it will all seem like a dream. A long, fuzzy dream.

And so I'm embracing the bad moments alongside the good and doing my best.

...He sure is cute...

That doesnt hurt.