Congratulations, brenda!

msbelle, I feel for you with the bathing woes. In fact, give me a few minutes and I'll probably be reliving your pain.

oh the mad was not about bath. bathtime just happened when mad was still going on. mac is VERY quick to temper. and he says things he doesn't really mean when mad and I really haven't held him to much of it. Well tonight he decided he was unhappy with the toy with his BK meal. Super dramatic "I DO NOT WANT IT. IT IS NOT GOOD. IT DOES NOTHING" shoving it back at me. ok, so it was mine. which I said. And there was no issue from him until it was time to go and now he wanted the toy. I explained that the toy was mine and stayed calm and he was FURIOUS and pretty much stayed so for the 5 blocks home and then bath time and I refused to deal with him unless he talked nicely to me. Bath actually finally calmed him down and we didn't have another flair up until end of book time. But some nights we go from laughing hugging mac to yelling mac 5-6 times from 6pm to 9pm.

sorry to kill the thread with uncute mac news.

I've got a lot of tv to get through tonight! No time to Natter!

It is kind of cute mac news, because I can see him saying "I DO NOT WANT IT. IT IS NOT GOOD. IT DOES NOTHING." NATLBSB!

ION, however, I wish I had thought of this: [link] Werner Herzog or Charles Barkley?

But some nights we go from laughing hugging mac to yelling mac 5-6 times from 6pm to 9pm.

Wow, that's a lot of testing behavior for his age. Typically toddlers do that because (a) they want the rules/boundaries reinforced and (b) they want to see if you really love them if they misbehave.

Though he's older, I wonder if on some emotional level Mac feels some anxiety that can't come out in other ways. Like, "Sure Mom loves me now, but if I'm a really bad kid she might take me back to the orphanage." Not that he could ever articulate that but it does sound like he's working something out. Something's driving the behavior.

I don't know if I would've drawn the line over the BK toy, but only because I would want to frame it as being about his behavior. Which is, that yelling and being rude is not okay. (Not, I'm taking you at your word and you gave up the toy.) I don't mean that as a commentary - just noting what my strategy would be. You can draw the line anywhere you think is necessary as long as you're consistent.

Personal note to Mac: Settle down!

Oy. Rough.

So. I've just had some drama. N, the g-grand-daughter from next door knocks, asks to use my phone. Calls cops.

Seems her grandfather has moved in. Alleged threats to her person and all that, though I don't know when. She's really upset. I had her sit with me in my apt until the cops arrived.

It's all kinds of fucked up and I don't know up from down. In the tangled words that poured out of her, it could be a lot of things. All I know is I had a very upset 17 year old at my door. I don't really know what's going on. But I'll answer that door and hand over that phone. No matter what.

At least the cops gave her a person/place to contact, and some advice. And hopefully, their decision to depart was sound.

I don't know. I really don't. I know these people. And there's more that I'll never know.

And now I think I'll have a really stiff drink.

Jesus, sara. Ugh.

Yeah.

It gets more complicated (for me) as I had asked the g-grandmother to watch Devi while I'm gone.

I trust her with that. I don't know how she'll react to my involvement in all this. Not so sure about the grandfather's presence. May punt and end up asking T and her dad.

Ggm and her sister are ...um...put it this way...I'm pretty certain from things they've said that they've been abused by the men in their families. But they wouldn't call it that. So.