If it continues I would recommend a sleep study. The brains activity can be monitored during sleep to identify a possible disorde. I have nightterror disorder since childhood (it is a biological disorder having nothing to do with scary movies or molestion) However.. periods of stress or being overly tired (sleep deprived) can bring them on. I suppose scary movies .. etc. could trigger an episode if the movies were causing a stressed out state just prior to sleep. They commonly occur within the first hour or two after falling asleep. I would Rule out a disorder before just treating them as ordinary dreams. with sleep terrors the child "wakefulness" invades the sleep.. basically asleep and awake at the same time. Your eyes are open and you SEE things that seem real because you are partially awake and seeing it. very terrifying. medications may help. Just Knowing what it is .. I found to be a huge help. I'm not crazy .. etc. Less scary that way. a characteristic of terrors is bolting upright in bed sometimes yelling. hope this helps :) maybe it will help someone

That IS great news! Congratulations Ceph! - You see, taking the high road has paid off for you, A_ and even BM.

Cat, it's terrible that you have tried, but your DH has such a bad attitude. It seems like your DH is one of the "My children are perfect, and how dare you find fault with them... Oh, but your child sucks" people. That's too bad, because of all the stress it has put on your marriage. JNM, I thought you shared that philosophy! A__ and I have actually talked about this give and take relationship... After a particularly rough patch, when he was being rather bratty, and I got pretty snippy with him, I explained that I love him no matter what, but that we choose how we treat each other, so we should choose to treat each other well. He seemed to think this was quite reasonable and succinctly said "So if I try to be very nice to you, then you try to be very nice to me? I think I can try to do that" So we had some hugs and kisses and moved on. We renew this conversation every few months. Kathline - Thanks, but I'm not all-nice-all-the-time... Here's how: BM can frustrate me, and I get upset when she doesn't want to "wear her mom hat" because her "GF hat" or her "work hat" get in the way. When she wears her "mom hat," she is a very good mom and she wants what's best for A__, but sometimes she makes me mad because I see A__ getting the short end of the stick. Overall, she's not so bad though, and she's not mean or spiteful and she doesn't use A__ as a weapon. Part of why I decided to take an active role in A__'s ADHD management was selfish: I thought "Wow, I'm really nuts about my BF, and I like his son's big heart and goofy personality... but if he's always this out of control, I don't think I can handle being in this relationship... :( " So I learned about ADHD, and I talked to FDH, suggested things that could help A__ and tried to keep positive, focusing on good days, not bad, and looking for his improvements, not his weak points... Meanwhile I worked towards a loving relationship with A__, making sure that I let him set the pace and the boundaries of relationship growth. But it wasn't JUST for A__ or FDH, it was for me too. There are days (A__'s bad days) when I think "BLARGH!! He's being such a brat today!!" but of course I don't say "Why are you being such a sh17ball?! Stop it!" Instead I try to help him have a good day and shift the focus to that. Sometimes after a few bad days in a row, my patience gives out and I get cranky with him (mostly my tone changes to short and snippy) but I try to solve things before it hits that. It helps a lot that I can be honest and frank with FDH about how I feel about A__. I often have A__ when FDH is at work (BM knows and is fine with this) and I know that it's safe to tell FDH "It's a wonderful day! A__ is being a perfect little angel today! He's a treat to have around!" or "Average day. A__'s being mostly good, with a little bit of lip and attitude, but overall well-behaved" or "It's not a good day! A__ is being a total nightmare and I am counting down the seconds until bedtime." I don't think A__ does things just to get people riled... Although I do think he does things for negative attention. He doesn't always know the way to look for positive attention, and positive attention isn't reinforced in other parts of his life... So I try not to take it personally, and try to focus on ways to look for positive attention. But if I'm very honest, this is something I don't like about him. But I guess my view of A__ is that he's got a big heart and is a thoughtful kid, who has a complicated life and a lot of challenges. The complicated life isn't his fault, as long as he is trying to be his best in light of his challenges, I am happy!

My Skids have plenty of clothes and they do bring a bag from biomom but in the last 2 years or so she has stopped phoning and saying there is somehting missing and my dh now has stopped being petty as well cause i tell him its there clothes...who cares what comes and goes! they wear it not us!. There are times where there is an event we go to when we watn them dressed nicely, we have back up that here at our house. They also have 'good' clean clothes at moms for good occasions that they also do not bring here. And i read a thread of not cleaning clothes or use of laundry machine? what load of crap is that!!! my sd had her period a few months ago and was embarassed to go to her dad so she came to me inteh bathroom and asked if i would clean her underwear. She was worried she ruined them cause of the stains. I had oxyclean..works wonders on those monthly bills for nature! she appreciated it and regardless to the fact that we are not always onthe same page me and her, i will not leave her feeling bad about underwear stains. She looked humiliated. and i felt it was my right as a woman to help her. I even helped a poor father in the pharmacy last week...lol..he looked lost and panicky inthe pad section. lol...he said his 12 year old daughter just started her period that morning, mom was at work what do i do!!! i can't reach her on the phone...i thought to myself..why the panic? i guess its a guy thing. Pointed him out several brands and sizes..he bought 3 of each! heheehhehe..