nhmom-
sorry you haven't gotten a lot of responses... it's hard when you're being moderated and with it being the weekend and holidays, it takes while for your posts to show.

I'm glad you had an almost normal Xmas morning. It's good that your H was there to share the experience with your S.

One thing that bothered me while reading your post was your H's reaction to your S. It's concerning that he is harsh to him and at the same time, won't allow you to comfort S (did I read that correctly? Don't want to interpret wrong.) I think that when it comes to your S, DB doesn't matter. Your job is to protect your son and comfort him when he is hurting- even from his own dad. That's a really hard place to be in, but in that moment- it's not about your or your H- it's about your S. I don't recall reading it in previous posts, but how old is your S?

As far as R talk, my rule that I have adapted is to NEVER bring it up. If it's going to be talked about, my H will have to be the one to approach the subject. My thinking is this: if he's the one who wants to leave, than he will have to be the one to bring up the uncomfortable talks. Besides, if I don't bring it up- than I'm not 'saying' to him: 'hey, I'm really excited about this separation- let's talk about all the details!' NO WAY!! What I've discovered, is that my H hasn't brought it up in over a week! We've been hanging out and it kinda feels like old times (except that I can't kiss/hug or ML when I want to- we stopped all of that over a month ago.)

I would count a few things as positives:
-He came home for Xmas
-He had enough forethought to know that he should be in the bed just in case S came in on Xmas morning (I think this shows that he was concerned about confusing/upsetting S if y'all were not in the same bed)
-H is considering C. This is BIG! Especially if he never talked about it before. Perhaps he's realizing that you're not the cause of his unhappiness (as most MLCers do) and that he has some work to do as well.

Keep posting often- you aren't alone in this at all!!
Try to enjoy the rest of your holiday with your S smile

M-31, H-31
T-9, M-7
S-6, s-20mth
sep 8/1/11
ILYNILWY 11/29/11
Creating separation papers.
Discover H has feelings for BFF, she does too 1/11/12
H moves out 1.20.12