Oh I almost flipped when my SD told my two little ones that DH wasn't their daddy. As you said thank god they are too little to understand, but she went a step further and said one of these days your going to go live in FL with your REAL dad. My kids are 5 and 3, and DH is the ONLY dad they have known. They don't know he's not their "real" father. One day we were in the car and my 5 yr old starts crying and shaking, asking why she had to go live in FL? I saw RED!! DH yelled so loud he even scared me, and then delt with SD when we got home. That was just evil. I left an abusive ex husband when I was still pregnant with my son. SD knows this, and also knows he will NEVER be in their lives. When the time comes to tell them that DH isn't their "real" dad, he and I will tell them, NOT HER!! My DH was adopted, and wants to adopt my kids. I think this has made it easier for him to accept them, VS most men. His sister use to pick on him saying "Yeah well your not their REAL kid" as she was, and his response was "Yeah well I was CHOSEN, you just happened." A line I will teach my children a few years down the road.... The sibling rivalry wouldn't bother me so much if SD wasn't so damn mean. AS I've said before overall she's a good kid, but as any kid, she has her moments, and when she does they're DOOSIES!! (as the above mentioned incident) She doesn't like to share the attention, weather it be me, DH, or grandparents. She wants it all. Negative or positive, she'll do whatever she has to to get it. Playing dumb is her latest tactic. The fake voice gets her no where, so now lets act stupid. You'd sware this child was deprived of any emotional contact, that she wasn't loved, which isn't the casse at all. She puts on a good act though. I just keep hoping as she gets older things will get better.

Sadly I am petless for the first time ever. I lost both my dogs within a year of one another. I had to send my Black Lab across the bridge this February. As soon as we get some yard work finished I'l be starting a new pack. We've always had two or more dogs in the past but this last pair were close in age and when the Rot died the Lab had too many issues with his health going on for us to introduce another dog. Pet Friendly Plans For the House: 1. Replacing our current pet door insert with a door in the glass on our family room slider. 2.Tile flooring in family room and kitchen. 3. Dog food storage cabinet in new laundry room. (for the 40 lb. plus bags of kibble) 4. Additional dog food storage cab in the kitchen for the cans,treats and a weekly amount of kibble. Dog first aid kit will be here also. 5. We are working on a design for a good (around 4 foot tall) custom dog gate for the wide hall separating the formal living room/dining room from teh rest of the house. The dogs are allowed there by invitation only. Our last Rottie was very social and would break the front room window trying to get out to play so the tall gate became a necessity. We already have the higher fences (thinks to hyper social Rot again) and we have areas of our backyard chain linked off from the dogs which provides an extra level of security for the. They can't get to any of the fence lines bordering the front yard. The plan is to get another pair of dogs starting with, hopefully, a female Rot this fall. Later we will add a male something (probably another Lab) that will be compatible as a brother. Reason being that Rots are strong willed and require a firm hand but mature faster. Labs can be strong willed adolescents for several years before they settle. I think I can train one more set of puppies before I age out. Then we will go into older dogs or puppy raising for Guide Dogs depending on our health and mobility.

This is a great thread! Years ago, when our oldest son was only 2 1/2, we were looking out his open bedroom window, watching our downstairs neighbour wash his van in the driveway below. As the neighbour was finishing up, our son yelled down to him, "Sandy, your forgot to wash the roof!" Sandy replied "Oh, that's okay, I don't have to look at the roof" Son responded, "Well, I do!" A couple of years ago, my DH was making homemade pizza with our two young grandsons, aged 3 and 5. While he was stretching the dough, his hands covered in flour, he playfully touched the nose of the youngest grandson. The older grandson looked on horrified at what grampa had done to his little brother, so grampa asked if he would like flour on his nose, too. Older grandson backed away, spread his hands, and exclaimed "what is WRONG with you!" Another time, my DH was getting ready to go over to our oldest sons' house. He came in to the room wearing a rather odd looking fake suede vest over his shirt, that he had bought himself years ago. I mentioned that it made him look a bit like a cowboy in it. He didn't agree, and thought he looked quite dapper. Shortly after arriving at our sons house, four year old grandson entered the room, and asked "Grampa? Where's your horse?" And other one, out of the mouth of our oldest son. When he was four years old, he was hospitalized with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, and had to have daily bloodwork to test his platelet counts. On about the sixth day of this, he marched up the nursing station and stated quite forcefully to his doctor that was sitting at the desk writing in a chart, "I am going home today and I don't care WHAT my bloodwork says!" Fortunately, his results were finally good, and he did come home that day.

I wonder how many of us do what our parents did. My grandparents also kept their doors locked. Our last two neighborhoods were gated. In one we had gates on our driveway. The last also had a guard at the main entrance. We still kept our doors lock. DLM, that is a scary story. While we have always lived in a low crime area, we have always locked doors and not kept garage doors open when working in the yard. When we were adding a second story to the home where we raised our children, I was in the backyard swing for a few minutes until I went to pick them up at school. I saw a garbage man go into our garage and get one of the trash cans I used for yard debirs. He then went up the hill to neighbors house and appeared to be putting trash into a bag. I thought he broke open a bag and was cleaning up. I should have known better. This was one that went ahead of the truck putting cans at the street for those that did not take them. Anyway, he then walked down the street with a black trash bag. I looked to see what was missing and didn't see anything gone. DH later said his chainsaw was gone. Someone from management came to interview me, and I was told the person was a fill in, not a regular employee. I did not get reimbursed for the missing chainsaw. One year, in the same town, the PD put out a warning about "traveling gypsies" that would talk to someone in the yard while someone else sneaked in. I later found out it happened to an older women two doors down. Across town, someone found a strange man in their house during this time.