He's just looking out for me, is all...

Brian: "Mom, there's something wrong with the tv. There's no sound, no matter how high I turn up the volume."

Me: "Uh, aren't you grounded from tv? So...you're trying to watch tv even though you're grounded?"

Brian: (pause) "I wasn't watching it...I just turned it on to check in case there might be a problem."

Since when do boys get PMS?

I thought it was the GIRLS that went through mood swings and all-out general craziness. And I thought 10 years old wasn't quite puberty aged yet anyway. WTH is up with Brian? We got into some kind of yelling match earlier over something that I can't even remember, he was sent to his room, he screamed at me, "YOU SUCK!" and got grounded from tv for the rest of the week, he threw things around in his room, I told him I might not be paying for him to go on the next field trip if he acted this way, and he proceeded to bawl his eyes out for the next half hour. Not even fake crying...REAL crying. LOUD real crying. For half an hour. Then he went off on me for leaving the house to get Chris and Erin from the neighbor's where they were playing with the dog, because when I left the house it was dusk, so no lights were on, and then in the 10 minutes I was over there, it got dark, and he came out of his room to find the lights off and no one home and somehow couldn't figure out that I was picking Erin and Chris up even though the neighbor's screen door faces ours and their door is maybe 15 feet away and you could see me through the doorway. He was "scared." This from the kid who stays home for 2 hours at a time no problem. I asked him what the problem was--he knows how to turn on a light--and got a look of utter disgust.

This kinda thing happens all the time now. He's the most delightful, polite, mature person...and then WHAMMO, he's psychotic!

Who is this child? And if boys truly are easier than girls, I'm selling Erin on ebay now.