I am the devil for having dreaded this at all. He has been perfect. He says "thank you" when I pick him up at the bus stop. He talks with me briefly about his day, then digs in on his homework, and asks permission for everything. "Can I change the channel?" I haven't even HAD to lay down my crazy list of rules on him. I feel stupid, petty, and RELIEVED!!! Maybe this CAN work out....Maybe I will even, dare I say, start to LOVE him??? I hope this isn't just a "honeymoon" phase where DH has scared him into being perfect for me, but I've said before, he really is a good kid.

Usually when he is bad, he doesn't really even understand that he is being bad b/c at BMs there is no bed time, no making his bed, no NOTHING!! No one asks to see his homework. By comparison, doing ANYTHING makes us look like real "nags" sometimes. So, he is simply not used to any of it, as we only have him every other weekend. And even then, I think most of you will agree, when you are still a pretty young kid, home is where your Mommy is, even if it's not the best place, it is all he knows....except for NANNA!! (You gotta put NANNA in all caps. You just have to).

And BM VERY OFTEN drops SS9 off at NANNAs house. THAT is where any truly BAD BEHAVIOR comes from. They allow him to be very disrespectful, I can't even recognize him when I watch him with his grandparents. It startles me, and I wonder if that is who SS9 REALLY is?! And life is a mild version of Disneyland over there. They have plenty of money and he is their only grandchild. NANNA thinks SS9 is her son. During his first football practice a couple of years ago, he was a little weepy (He was like 6 years old at the time) because he was nervous, and NANNA went and scooped him up off the field and said you are NOT DOING THIS TO MY PRECIOUS BOY!!!!!!! That REALLY got SS9 riled up and he was bawling after she made this huge fiasco. The child didn't even get hurt. AT ALL. He was just NERVOUS, and she said we were heartless for trying to make him do it, when SS was doing it b/c he told us he WANTED TO!! He was at that age when you are putting your feelers out trying to see what interests the kid. Baseball, no. Football, no. Karate, yes.

And needless to say, from that moment on, NANNA has been DHs arch enemy. NANNA got rid of her spare bed at her house, and SS9, who is in 4th grade, sleeps in the bed with NANNA. (Did I mention she HAS MONEY so it's not like financial times forced them to get rid of the bed) EVERY NIGHT. He sleeps in his own bed at BMs and DHs. NANNA is a bigger problem than BM for us. The problem with BM is that she is so lazy, that she is constantly dropping her child off with NANNA. NANNA has him on our off weekends, and a couple of day in the week. So she has him MORE THAN WE DO. We went to a lawyer over this, and long story short, there was really nothing we can do, especially b/c the outcome was doubtful and money was HIGH!