LOL Annie, little man liked that Michigan Sushi idea. I reminded him of his experience from the past year but he didn't seem to worry. When I asked him "What do you do when one of your friends tells you that you have bad breath?" He said, "I will say 'it's too bad that you don't eat fish.'" I am so proud! Jim, I have never tried lox myself so can't say if it will be less smelly or not. Since fish is one of our favorite foods we never have any leftover fish from the night before. Our mornings seem to be very short and we always end up rushing out of the door so canned fish is what we will settle with for now. Tami, little man has never tried mints before. I personally don't like them so I have a feeling that he may not enjoy a mint in his mouth. He loves tic tac. I bought him some tic tac in little colorful containers with the pop-up lid. So I won't have to worry about school people mistaken them as pills. Terri, lucky you. At least he can still take peanut butter to school. It's an absolute no-no to bring any nuts or anything that contain trace amount of nut to school. Little man loves peanut butter banana sandwiches. I don't want him to eat PBB sandwich every day but once in a while would be nice. I definitely will make the rolled fish bread for him tomorrow. In fact, we have already planned for the rest of the week... Thursday will be sardine sushi. Instead of using nori I will use sesame seeds on the outside. Friday will be BBQ seitan strips with raw carrot and cucumber. It's gonna be a good week for him. Al

FD, Now that I've gone back and re-read your previous couple posts, I must say I think you're a bit off, for lack of better description. "If that's how you talk to your DH and SD no wonder"-- Huh? WTH are you talking about? "Didn't your DH said that he has a problem with your treatment of him?" Uh, no. Of course he (like most of us) doesn't like it when it's pointed out to him that he's wrong. "he took a long time to voice that" No, FD. He's never liked being wrong. "So talking about open communication at home"-- yes, talk about it. We have LOADS of it. SD is glad she can FINALLY have some. Her own words!!!!!!! "her leg broken, it is still mom's fault"---WHO SAID THAT???? "I understand you have nothing to say nicksmom."--HUH? You are losing me here? "You know I am right."-- Now THAT is about the funniest thing I've hear all day...maybe even all year! I have yet to find you right about much. Sorry 'bout your luck. "I don't know who you blamed for ankle issue."--Welllll, up above you said I blamed Mom. Which is a bunch of crap, of course, but you said it. "Pretty soon you won't be able to blame mom anymore"--again, what have I blamed her for? Unless you are referring to the guilt trips and moving kids away, which are both REALITY, I'm not sure what you are talking about. Now, let's see if you can actually respond to ANYTHING above. Or will you just continue to ramble and make laughable statements?...that aren't even true....

Well, you certainly have been vocal about enjoying your adult kids at home and I can certainly relate. My own family would be easy for me to tolerate - they've never mistreated me or mine and if they ever did get moody, I'd have no problem speaking my mind. And, in my old age, I really hope my dear sons do come back home after college. I'd love it! I hope we'll always be close as my parents and I have always been close. And, if I ever do need something in my advancing years, I wouldn't be holding my breath waiting on my skids to help out - it just isn't their thing. It will be MY family who has always been there for me and who I can count on - hopefully, my sons will be of a similar mind to me and not of the thinking that my skids have - they're selfish, spoiled and have a huge sense of entitlement. I pray they mature and grow out of that stage, but I haven't really seen signs of that happening. My youngest's b-day is Thurs. and she said, "I'm gonna take you to Toys 'R Us and buy you a big dinosaur!" Meanwhile, my oldest (turned 7 a month ago) is still waiting for his trip there, also promised, but never delivered though she did decorate a little on his b-day w/ balloons that I had around. He asked me when she was going to take him and I just said for him not to ask her again as I guess she forgot and it isn't polite to keep asking. Not sure what else to do here. When my friends had a surprise shower for me, neither SD brought so much as a card. Christmas? Nothing for me or the boys again. Do you see a pattern? And, before you ask, yes, I shop for them, but what I buy is usually returned. One year, I bought the younger one 8 different things FROM HER LIST and every single one slowly but surely was returned. She would ask for the receipt, then had my DH ask for the last ones as I guess she felt embarrassed or something. If my nephews, cousin, sons or someone from my family didn't let me know about dinner, coming home, etc, I'd have no problem not accommodating them or calling their cell phones at midnight to find out where they were. W/ this one, it's a toss up and I am uncomfortable if she isn't home and it's late - worried about an accident. It was the same crap when my SS lived w/ us. Frankly, I haven't MUCH time alone at all and just want to have my immediate family living in the house I built for them. I'm sorry if that sounds selfish to you. I thought this was a forum in which to seek support and vent out our frustrations. I'm sick of houseguests, permanent or temporary, and the lack of consideration that goes along w/ them. As I'm sure I mentioned somewhere, a one bed. apt, as one of my assts. rents in a nice area, goes for $800/mo. My asst. makes nowhere near what my SD makes. My steps could either share a room and let the younger SD's bf have the second bedroom of the rental (which I wish was just rented to some stranger at this point) or, let the younger SD and her bf have the master and this SD have the secondary bedroom. I could get close to $2000/m, but wouldn't be comfortable upping the rent from what I rented to my current tenant, so it will stay where it was. I think I've done my time w/ my steps: the thanks I got from the son was shafting me on the student loan I cosigned for him foolishly, paying his car to this day - though my DH finally got it back, we can't get rid of it in the condition and w/ the miles he left it, and we still pay his cell, hoping to keep a line of communication open which has not been the case for 3 years. I don't want to hold his faults against this SD, but so many things are similar, not that I'd be stupid enough to ever sign another note. I can't change who I am, and I do worry at night when it's late and the steps aren't home. Last night, this one was out til 11:00 this morning. Was I told? No. There are accidents here every day and night on the news - don't tell me not to worry 'cause I do. I had a head-on collision in my late 20's and if my mom wasn't the worrier she is, I might have died waiting on help as I suffered a pneumothorax from a driver who fell asleep and hit me as I was coming home from residency late one night. But, I was responsible and if I wasn't home when I was supposed to be and didn't call, my parents knew something was wrong. Last night, I had confirmation for my CCD class and my oldest son had a b-day party to attend so my SD babysat the younger two for the hour between me leaving and my husband returning. It's the second time in 5+ months that she helped out. When I returned, I said to my husband that we ought to grab a quick dinner alone and she quickly stormed out, "I'm going OUT in 45 min, so if you're going, you better make it quick!" I didn't say anything, just went upstairs and changed. It's not that I didn't appreciate her helping out, but it's the entire attitude she has that is on my nerves. BTW, all of the interior doors in this house were to have the same little wrench that opens them that we planned to keep above the door frames for each bedroom. But, my 4 y.o.'s and the guest room are the only ones that got them. I'm not one who locks her bedroom door, but after having her barge through on Good Friday thinking I wasn't home, I guess I should. Do you think that is OK to do w/ the excuse that she didn't realize I was in there? I guess I'm being unreasonable again? Sorry, but I disagree and now wonder what the heck she was doing in there and how often she did it! Dana

"Now I am so proud of my DH for unconditionally loving my little girl as his own and I think I will get over whatever it was I was concerned about." Amen!! It sounds like their relationship is fine. My DD gets the same "sad" face on when DH asks her to do something or comes down on her. I have the luxury of knowing what she does with her bio-dad too though. With SF she gets sad look, with bio-dad she pouts. And throws a mini-tantrum. And for me? I get a heavy sigh. When she was younger (like 4) she once threw a crying fit with Grandma because she didn't want to get in her carseat and buckle up. I had never had that issue with her. She was testing Grandma. And Grandma asked me what I would have done, and I told her, depending on how tight time was I would either sit there until she got bored and wanted to go, or I would strap her little screaming writhing body in the seat and go. Kids are smart. They are going to try to work the angles and see what works for them. They test the boundaries. It sounds like you're a little defensive of your daughter (and I KNOW that feeling) and concerned about the difference in parenting between the kids with your DH/SO. I have been too. But I really do think, based on parenting with a bio- and now co-parenting with DD's bio and SD's bio parents.... These are issues everyone faces. Regardless of blood ties. Differences in parenting strategies. Disagreements in how kids should be raised. Conflict between the adults about the children's behavior and what to do about it. I get the "manipulation" too. I've said before that kids are manipulative. And it's not inherently bad, it's just them trying to figure out what works. I think the problem is that she's going about asking in a way that he doesn't like. Have you talked to him? Maybe ask if there's a time where you guys can have a family tv time, pop some popcorn and watch a family friendly show. That way she gets her "hanging out" time and he knows to expect it. I suspect he's not liking the manipulation. My DH hates that too, and I do the same thing "she just wants to be close to us....". But in my case I think he's right. Once I got past my "if she were your daughter...." thoughts I realized there is a more effective way for her to get what she wants, and we're working on teaching her a more honest way of going about things. Like, "mom, I miss you. Can we spend some time together" rather than "working" us and then dropping the "I want..(whiny bomb).