I do not have to put up with that, no.

Is it really just a crappy Monday?

This morning started out so nicely, too: I was woken by my new alarm, who kissed me ever so nicely. She packed me a lunch and a travel mug of tea, and I left for home to take care of the remaining menagerie.

The drive from her house is always lovely, but even more so on foggy mornings. There's just something unutterably surreal and fragile about fog drifting in thick banks across the fields.

Traffic was minor until fairly close to home, which is because the traffic lights start in about five miles away, and this slows down everyone. Still, I made it home in about an hour, and fed the monsters. We had a lovely walk, the dogs and I, and since I already had a lunch I only needed to make my tea. I was at work in time to get a decent parking spot next to my building, which is a major accomplishment.

Got lots of work done at work, which is always nice to do. The Ex called to update me on the Sonny, who is dealing with sleep disturbances still, and had been woken by a nightmare again. We talked about training him on lucid dreaming techniques, and she also apologized for her behavior on Sunday. (Basically, she'd been running late, had yelled at me because he wasn't ready to go, and I'd ignored it.)

Heading home, I ran into weather and that caused the Bad Kind of traffic, so I detoured away from the Beltway, stopped by the pet store for dog fud and a few cat treats. I got home in time to see the Sonny also heading for the house with his best friend. This was unexpected, and it turned out that his friend's younger brother had run off, so the family was out looking for him. Even later it turned out that Sonny has been spending many afternoons at their house, on his way home from school. No wonder he's usually late, but the lying has to stop...

Since it was her week, the Ex was also around for this, and took the Sonny off to her place. I finished feeding the monsters, and started making my dinner.

The phone rang. It was about 7 pm; my dinner was not ready yet. It was Ex, asking me to come to her place now. She and the Sonny had gotten into a confrontation and she needed help. I turned off the stove, packed away the dogs, and drove down.

They'd gotten into an argument over homework, and he'd pushed her. On the other hand, he'd been woken by a nightmare at 3:30 this morning, and could be reasonably expected to be somewhat tired by now. I spoke briefly to him; he was in his room with his arms folded. I sat with her and tried to redirect her into positive approaches until she got mad about "letting him get away with it" and started in on me. I told her I wasn't going to let her treat me like that and left.

I called her about 15 minutes later to ask her what she thought was an appropriate punishment for him. She couldn't decide at that time, but we discussed a few options and she'll get back to me. I suppose she'll apologize tomorrow. If not, I won't be surprised. When she thinks she's right, she gets righteous and mean about it.

I'm glad I walked out. I was not going to sit there and tolerate her anger again. She asked me to come help, and I did. If she didn't like it, well, she can deal with him on her own then. She's the one who left (and the Sonny is still angry at her about it); I don't owe her anything any more. I'm happy to try to help if asked, but that's my limit.

I went shopping at TJs for more bread before getting home to finally have my dinner (asparagus risotto and italian sausages); I think I'll have some dessert now. And tea.

And then to bed. By myself, tonight. It would have been nice to drive up to the FG tonight but not at this hour. It's late enough, and I don't want to fall asleep on the drive.

With any luck, the Sonny will have a better day tomorrow. Poor kid needs a decent night's sleep.