I'm worried about ideas my SS9 may be getting. His mom just bought a house and is letting SS's 19 YO brother and his girlfriend live there. They share a bedroom right next to SS9's and I wonder what kinds of noises my kid is going to hear. BM has to be the "cool," "fun" mom so there's no way she'd say no to her older son shacking up with his GF at her house. You know they're going to have sex in that house and I hate it that SS9 is around this. Don't get me wrong--I know I wasn't a virgin when I got married and my kids are going to hook up with girls...

Ugh, I feel like the evilest of evil stepmoms right now. SS is 6 and almost done with the first grade. The last few weeks, he has been argumentative and overly emotional. No matter what DH and I say to him, he comes back with, "Actually, it's this way," or "Actually, it's that way." And he's crying at the drop of a hat! My husband got on him about his lack of attention with a toy that he just HAD TO HAVE and SS started bawling and moaned about hwo his dad hurt his feelings. Is this just part of normal things that 6 year-old boys go through?

SS is a newly minted 5 year-old and really a good kid. Last night, he wanted to call his mom after 9 p.m. and, "Tell her I love her and to bring my light sabers." I said he could talk to her but that it was too late for her to come over so don't ask her to bring them. He started to argue and I told him three more times not to ask her to bring them over. He said OK but tried to go upstairs to talk to her once I gave him the phone. I told him to stay down here, so he snuck behind the couch. I KNEW I should have gotten him out of there or at least found out what he was saying to her.

I had a pretty good night with SS but got frustrated by his seemingly constant references to his mommy. I was drinking a Diet Pepsi and he pointed out, "Hey, my mommy drinks that." Daddy fast forwarded through a show he DVR'd and SS squealed, "Hey, my mommy can do that." There were a dozen other references to what he did "at my mommy's home" or "with my mommy." I was so frustrated by hearing it. And I know I can't scream, "Kid, I don't give a f*** about your mommy" to a 4-1/2 year old.