Yeah. putting down some feather pillows to soften the landing. It's actually laughable because we can see through it. I don't even know if W is doing this consciously or if this is just her continuing her passive ways of dealing with situations that will certainly have some conflict in it, or deliver news that is kinda $hitty.
The interaction can't be avoided as you know with 2 little kids, but I can definitely spot crappy behavior and not have to put up with it. I hope I am wrong, but I feel like this is what's going on in her head - 'if I create some family time or do a couple of nice things for him, then it will be hard for him to put up resistance when I talk to him about x issue and what I want to happen'. For me it's like those things are completely separate. I won't tolerate 'covert contracts' and typically what NGS folks do - buy agreement and acceptance through niceness, rather than doing kind things for their own sake.
Time will tell what's happening truly. I got a bit caught by surprise by this change in status quo, but I was able to compose myself pretty quickly and not overthink it or start the mindreading games. Let's see what she really wants. I have left a path for her, but I most certainly won't make it easy. She will have to confront her demons for me to really believe that she's got it in her to make the changes.
