BM was living with her mother for a few months this past year because she was filing for bankruptcy...which ended up being a ploy to play the victim for a few months...but whatever. We noticed SD4's attitude was getting terrible and she was bratty, demanding, and the things she would say blew us away. She was very obviously copying things older people would say to each other, down to the tone of voice. DF told me it was because of living with BM's mother (I'll call her GrandmaBM). He said, "If you think BM's attitude is bad, you should try having a conversation with GrandmaBM!" I really had a hard time believing a woman of 50something age wouldn't understand how to speak when a 4 and 2 year old are around, and thought maybe it was just a hard time for SD4 because of moving there and her life being uprooted and trying to adjust. Finally, about 3 months ago, BM got her own place and since then SD4 has been 50 times better in her attitude so I was starting to see what DF was telling me.

Last week, I took SD4 to gymnastics classes. I coach there, too. BM was supposed to pick up SD4 after class, but she wasn't there yet, so we sat down and had a snack while we waited. GrandmaBM comes in like a tornado and SD4 is all excited to see her. She starts telling GrandmaBM about how she didn't know where Mama was and that SteppingUp was sitting with her. GrandmaBM completely ignores me, although I said, "Hi! How are you?" and gave her a nice smile. So I continue to stand there, helping SD4 make sure she has all of her belongings. I said to SD4, "That's nice that you get to spend time with GrandmaBM!" Apparently this caught GrandmaBM by surprise that I knew her name because her head snapped up so fast she should have gotten whiplash, and she gave me the strangest look. She goes, "WHO are you?" and SD4 says in a snotty tone, "Grandma, you know who SteppingUp is," and rolls her eyes. So then GrandmaBM says in THE snottiest voice, "OH. You're DF's STEPPINGUP?" I say, "Yeeeesss..." and she looks me up and down, noticing my shirt that says 'Coach' on it. She snaps, "You work here?" I reply cheerfully, "Yup!" and she just grumbles, "Oh."

This is my second time ever actually talking to this lady, but we've seen each other many times during drop-offs and pick-ups. The fact that she was rude to me before she even knew who I was tells me a whole lot about the situation. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...and I hope we can keep the step kids as FAR away from THAT tree as possible!