I have blogged about my irritation with BM calling MY house everyday or night that the SK's are here. Originally my conclusion was to get a cell phone for her to call the kids so I could track the amount of calls coming and going. This is mostly an issue with the youngest SK because the older 2 have their own cell phones and are 16 and 18 so they are hardly ever home anyway. I kept talking myself out of it. I finally, after much arguing with myself, figured out the real reason and true benefit (in my mind) for getting her a phone. I thought if I were to get a phone that BM could call that it would prevent her name from showing up on caller ID. It would prevent my heart rate from sky rocketing every time I watched a child sprint across the house to get her call. If I don't know when she's calling then I can make up my own reason as to why SD11 is upset instead of knowing it's because she just talked to BM. When she is upset after a call she will not tell us why. We have tried every tactic we can think of for 5+ years and she just clams up.

Anyway, SD11 was sooooooo excited! I told her I went shopping and wanted to show her what I bought. I handed the phone to her and she saw the front panel had "_____'s Phone" programmed on it. I have never seen such a big smile. She showed her siblings when they came home in the same fashion. I emailed BM about the phone but as usual NO RESPONSE! The rules are that it stays here and only BM, dad and I are programmed in and until we know she is responsible with it (we know she will be) she is to only call us, no friends. I also told her I wanted her to take it with her to the store or her friends house a couple blocks away. A few months back I suggested that she walk home by herself from a sporting event that she was participating in down the street. Because she would have to cross a pretty big street, she panicked, froze and just couldn't do it. BM wrote a really nasty, sappy, sick email about how her baby should not be forced to go out by herself and SD knows about how people could grab her and do things to her and she was never to go anywhere alone...blah, blah, blah. What BM didn't know was that I had already planned to be in a place where I could see SD walking down the street, it's a straight shot. But she and SD did not need to know that. I thought that if SD thought she did it by herself it would build confidence. Anyway, back to the phone...the next morning after getting the phone, she decided she wanted to go down to the gas station on the corner for some candy. That afternoon she grabbed her purse, her money (she earned), and her phone and headed out the door without looking back.

What a thrill for all of us! Thanks for letting me share.