I just cannot bring myself to sincerely care for FSD2. I have been trying for the past year, and I just can’t.

Lord knows BM has made it extremely hard for me to even want to be around her, but I thought I would be able to muscle through all of it. I don’t want it to be this way, I want us to blend nicely. I love FH and have not a doubt whatsoever about him, just his daughter. I feel like maybe I am just being a baby about it, especially since she is only 2. Something is lacking, though.

I have a BS3 and he is amazing. I don’t just say that because he is mine, but he really is. I have raised him myself, no help from his BF. He is a bright kid and very talented at sports, no exaggeration. He listens well, with no excessive whining or temper tantrums. Maybe I am just spoiled with him?

Her on the other hand, she is something else. She is super clingy and crawls all over people and won’t do anything without them. Throws herself on the floor with tantrums and squealing fits, the whole nine. For example; my family had the FH and FSD2 over for dinner last night. She will not sit in her chair for any amount of time (that is a toddler thing for some kids, I get it), she won’t eat, kept touching my BS3’s food and giggling, throwing a fit because FH wouldn’t let her get up. He couldn’t enjoy his supper because he was so stuck up her rear, and picking her up and putting her in his lap trying to feed her like an infant, etc. BS3 finished his dinner and he and I went outside to play soccer because I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. This all may seem insignificant but it is just one instance of millions, literally. She had already been eating at me earlier yesterday evening as well.

She is a little girl so of course she has her sweet moments, and there are a lot of good times between she and I, but there is just some kind of underlying issue that I just can’t get past. Everytime FH gets her back from BM’s, she is just so obnoxious. Their schedule is really weird, too, so there is not time for adapting. He has her Sunday night, Monday day, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday day. BM has her whenever else. BM lives with both of her divorced parents, her 28+yr old brother and his 30yr old girlfriend. Every bratty thing FSD2 does, they encourage because they think it is “cute”. She is coddled to no end. Whenever FH makes any progress, it is two steps back when she goes to BM’s house. FSD2 and BM share a room together and sleep in the same bed, so FSD2 is super clingy when she comes to FH. Her child care is being taken care of by a Trinidad-ian woman during the week, with no other children. She isn’t learning anything, she doesn’t even know her colors. I honestly think she has a developmental problem, but how do I translate that to FH?

I am really sorry about my all over the place rant but I needed to vent. I want to bond with her, I do. But I cannot handle the bratty little girl thing. My best friend has a daughter a few months younger than FSD2 and we are great together. She is so sweet and loves me and I love having her. And again, I have a BS3. So I don’t hate kids. My skin just literally crawls when she is around sometimes. I do not want to disengage, but I am going to start resenting my FH. I am so confused.