I very faithfully kept Everett's baby book, filling in most of the pages before he was even born. After he hit about age one, I 'completed' it in a mad rush and let the blogging take over.

Truman's baby book never got beyond the design phase, and I think part of the problem is that the milestones that matter to me? Don't really even fit in the pages of those mass-market baby books. If they did, I would have been scribbling in a lot of the blanks on my boys' books in the past few days.

• Truman, August 9, 15.5 months: Baby's first on the floor, kicking and screaming tantrum
• Everett, August 10, 4 years: First appropriate use of the word "bitch" and subsequent heartfelt apology
• Truman, August 12: Baby's first climb to the top of a 1940s, highly scary play structure
• Everett, July 30: First time in the deep end, "walking" around the edge of the pool with his hands
• Everett, August 12: First time using aggression to protect his little brother from another kid

I watch these milestones with amusement, fear, and a few of the choked-up I-can't-believe-my-little-boy-is-growing-up-so-fast sniffles. I'll never remember when Everett got his molars or what day it was when Truman first waved goodbye. But I will remember Everett telling Truman that he was a superhero, too; I'll remember Truman going down that really, really scary slide with a wide-open-mouthed grin; I'll remember how Everett learned to take his seatbelt off, but waited until the car was stopped to do it, all on his own.