SD5 has one week here with us and then goes over to the other side for a week. It is not been good for any of us. Per the agreement, PF is supposed to have her for a week and is supposed to call 3x a week so she can talk to my wife. PF does not call and if he does, it's maybe once during that week. He also does not see her as she is at the grandma's house the whole week. It would be an extraordinary month if he sees her more than 3x a month AT his mother's house.

Different ways of life and different methods of raising children are having a negative impact here. Being that the grandmother only speaks Spanish and is trying to raise SD on her ways is killing us. I honestly do not think that there is any discipline over there. SD has free reign to whatever and whenever she wants. Up until 6 months ago, GM was still hand feeding her. I think it finally stopped. GM was also giving her a bottle, not a sippy cup, but a bottle up until the age of 4! GM still allows her to suck her thumb, but that's an issue that many others may not care about. I do.

I know, it's going to sound jaded and it's hard to only hear one side of the story, but we are stellar parents. We have a happy and safe home here where both parents are home with the kids. SD5 has the SD11 and BD2 to play with. She is fed regular food here with her own utensils. She does not have a sippy cup, but a regular cup. There is no thumb sucking while she is here, well only when she sleeps.

When try to instill rules and a certain methods of how we do things here. Basic things like scraping food off of your plate and then put it in the sick, picking up your toys, putting your shoes away... basic things like that. By the time her week is over, she finally has a good grasp on what needs to be done and how. We move a step forward into the right direction. When she comes back, she picks up a bad habit and forgets everything we had shown her.

1 step forward, 2 steps back.

It's frustrating, but I have to deal with it. It's going to be a longer and harder road than it should/could, but we'll get there.

I am the bad cop, dw is the good cop. I don't mind. I grew up in a fairly structured home and it has helped me tremendously. My dw on the other-hand has not. I am far from a drill sergeant, but I feel structure is good. Kids need a plan. They need to see that and I am happy and more than willing to help them get it down.

Back on topic here. Sorry for the long read. I tend to babble and draw things out more than they need to be. Anyway...

We have issues here where SD5 will say that she wants to be with 'abuela'. That's grandma in Spanish for those who do not know. She'll never say that she wants to be with 'papi'. He's never there. She'll say that she wants to be with abuela when she is disciplined. Sh!t, as a kid, I would rather be there too. No rules, do whatever you want and get whatever you want. Who wants to get reprimanded? I don't blame her. I don't get mad when she says that, but we do explain why we do the things that we do here and how it's good. Who knows if any of it is actually sinking in.

I keep on telling myself, all in due time.

With Kindergarten approaching, it has me a bit worried. The day care that SD5 was going to is literally a block from the grandmother's and the new school SD5 will be going to is 2 blocks away. On our weeks, dw picks her up from the daycare after work. Not so bad at this age, but when 'real school' comes into play, we're going to have issues.

I cannot see how this split custody is going to work when real homework and projects will be a weekly thing. How can we communicate with the grandmother who barely speaks English? You all know that you cannot reply on the kids to communicate with us on all of their schoolwork. I guess it'll have to be a weekly thing with the teachers. I like being involved with my kids and their homework. I like to know what they are learning and what they're struggling with. I hope that it will go smoothly.

Time to get the munchkins up for the dentist! Whoo! Fortunately for me, the dentist's office rocks! The kids have a blast and it makes it easier for me to deal with 3 girls.

Why is Monday so far away from Friday, but Friday is so close to Monday? Meh, it doesn't matter for me all that much. Everyday is like Friday when you're a house husband.