We took SD7 on a lovely trip to New York this weekend...

[Bear in mind her mother never takes her anywhere and went to the beach two weeks ago without her.]

She got to meet my best friend, who took her to the beach, crafted flowery headbands with her, and introduced her to girls her age at a party. We then took her to NYC to visit my brother, with whom we had brunch and walked around Central Park.

...That's when the trouble started. She saw a butterfly. A gorgeous yellow Monarch butterfly. GIANT TANTRUM ensued. She ran away screaming (in freaking NYC!!!)and then erupted into pouty tears and refused to go within 30 feet of the butterfly.

Initial reaction: Dafuq?

Delayed reaction: What the hell kind of parenting is her mom doing to incite this kind of behavior? OH tells me BM's also deathly afraid of bugs (not butterflies, though) and that she pitches fits when they're around... and she's 25. Of course, after this episode happened, SD7 starts complaining that she misses her mom. I'm beginning to believe that her mother coddles her like crazy when this sort of thing happens.

Not this stepmom. Hell to the no.

The really funny part? She said she's not scared of white butterflies, just the ones with black on them. Her mom has a gross tattoo on her arm... of black butterflies. MWAHAHAHAHAHA.