Maybell XXXVIII: Settling In

[Maybell]

Mr. Fantastic only telephones the children on the Sunday that I have them. So D12 either texts him or waits till she sees him in person. (She says, in true post-milennial form, that people of her generation do not telephone) I expected her to wait till she saw him tonight but apparently she was too excited to wait. I texted him because I wanted to confirm that she had conveyed the message correctly. If this had been a serious discussion I certainly would have held it in person. With lawyers present. Because the entire settlement agreement would have been impacted.

I never expected him to be anywhere close to agreeing to more time with the children. Not only did S10 make the same request two years ago, when there wasn't even the issue of the settlement agreement to consider, but Mr. Fantastic rejected the idea of keeping them overnight during the week ever (and only does it now as a huge favor to me when I have a work obligation and the kids have no school the next morning) AND he didn't ask for any extra time when we were negotiating the settlement agreement. If anything, his requests read as getting him out of any additional responsibility whatsoever. He doesn't follow up with anything but the most obvious parenting responsibilities and pushes everything back to me as often as possible. Down to buying clothes for his house, which he won't do because the kids then wear them back to my house and he doesn't see them again. There is more about this but there's no point in getting worked up about it.

I just got another long weird text from him. He makes me sick at heart. It's like he wants to get his way without looking like an a$$hole. I don't know how to answer him. I don't know how to discuss this with my kids. I don't know why he would think they WOULDN'T want more time with him, or why he doesn't want more time with them when they ask him for it. I am so sorry I chose him to be their father.