We alternate between getting very frustrated with Stephen and feeling sorry for him. He doesn't understand much about the world, but he still thinks he should be able to explore whatever he wants. He views his parents as bullies (or dictators) that tell him what to do at every turn. It's literally getting to the point that every single thing he desires gets a "no" from his parents.

He can climb on the couch easily, which is fine, but he immediately does all the wrong things. Within three seconds of getting on the couch, he tugs on the curtains, knocks the lamp over, or pulls keys off of my wife's laptop. This results in him trying to climb onto the couch for an hour straight while I put him back on the floor and he cries. This is becoming the routine. In fact, as I type this, my wife is cleaning up a bit. While she takes Stephen's toys (or things he perceives as toys, such as my monopod) to the shelf, he is just sobbing and trying to rip everything back off the shelves. He is so clueless that he thinks cleaning up is some sort of personal attack on him.

Lots of good things are developing too. He can follow simple commands (like "dance" or "go get the ball") and understands a lot of words. He can play with the dogs and even throw their ball and play a horrible version of fetch. He carries around his kiddie laptop and plays with it a lot more. He can watch TV for five minutes at a time.

The new season of PBS Kids starts today. The new series this year is "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!" with Martin Short as the voice of the Cat. (By the way, did you know Martin Short is 60?) It seems like it might be good. When referring to children's programming, "good" means that it's not supremely annoying. Seems like it has good songs and good voices.

We have had literally perfect weather every day of this extended weekend. We've been to the playground with Stephen, Jaime went fishing yesterday, and we've been enjoying a lot of extra long walks with the dogs. I missed the dry, crisp air. The hot weather started late this year, but it was an extremely hot summer.