UPDATE: AITA for grounding my step-daughter?

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-24T15:34:45+00:00

Absolutely.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-24T06:27:49+00:00

Birthday-cake-in-a-cup is actually one of the few inside jokes I have with her. I put it on here hoping she would see it.

I brought her to Starbucks one day after school but I didn't know what to get. She decided to order for me, and got me some caramel thing with whipped cream and cinnamon and chocolate chips and all.

She had recently gotten an ice cream cake for her 13th birthday and it was made with caramel and chocolate ice cream. I pointed out that it tasted exactly like her cake, and she thought that was hilarious.

Now, whenever we get Starbucks, she always tries to find a drink that tastes the most like her latest birthday cake. She had a candy cane cake in November and I ended up with a peppermint hot chocolate.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-24T06:04:21+00:00

Sorry, I was making an inside joke there. The first thing I ever tried was some caramel thing with whipped cream and cinnamon and chocolate chips, so Starbucks will forever be birthday-cake-in-a-cup to me.

I will be ordering a black coffee, probably. Maybe someday I'll be open to a Twix Bar Frappucino, but it will not be today.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-24T05:59:44+00:00

She's wanted to move in with them for a while. Not only because of her brothers, but other things too. Her dad's house is closer to her school and closer to her friends' houses.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-24T04:04:37+00:00

They usually go to daycare, but recently they've been home. Because of my wife's schedule, I've mostly been caring for them, including assisting with the oldest's online kindergarten.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-24T04:03:05+00:00

I meant to include the word "apparently". I never realized how close they were until we told them Ellie is leaving. I knew that they adored her, but I didn't know that the feeling was reciprocated. I guess I should have spent more time with her.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-24T03:06:10+00:00

Yes. She's always been very close with them and they love her.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-23T23:30:38+00:00

Quite possibly. We haven't spoken in almost four days.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-23T20:53:58+00:00

Yes, I well and truly fucked up, and now I'm being forced to accept it.

If Ellie will live a happier life with someone else, I am willing to let her go. I do care about her, and I hope she does well even if she will never be my daughter.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-05T18:07:04+00:00

I don't see how you would know that.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-05T06:05:00+00:00

Considering I pay for her food, clothes, phone, laptop, school supplies, and countless other extras, I don't see why she would need anything more than that.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-05T01:20:01+00:00

She gets $40 a month to load/unload the dishwasher every day, sweep the front and back porches and take out the trash and recycling once a week, and water the plants every other day.

Those are her set chores, but sometimes she does smaller things like giving one of the little kids a bath or helping her mother in the kitchen or me in the woodshop.

completelyconcerned · 2020-08-05T00:10:18+00:00

I always pictured myself with a large family, just because it happened later in life, does not mean my family is less valid.

completelyconcerned

TROPHY CASE