The clothes and shoes AGAIN. Darth Vader likes to pretend "it's not that big of a deal" to her (the crap she tells my DH when we got into it about shoes/clothes at the end of last school year).

She sent SS10 back with an outfit with tags still on it (I guess to show us how much she spent on a pair of shorts and a tshirt) that SS10 "wants to wear on the first day of school". (We had him the night before, also his birthday).

At his birthday breakfast, the day before 5th grade, DH says something to me, oh SS10 has an outfit he wants to wear. I sweetly say, "Oh honey, you picked out a new outfit? I always loved picking out my outfits for the first days of school. I still do as a teacher!" (I said oh so sweetly because I KNEW his mom had picked out the outfit.) SS10 takes a bite of his chocolate chip waffle and replies, "More like my mom picked it out." (turns out she even told him what shoes he needed to wear with it)

And the truth shall set you free!

The best part is coming though. Later that evening, Darth Vader texted me! (We have barely been on speaking terms since the big blowout back in May.) Her text consisted of something like, "Can you take a picture of SS10 on his first day of 5th grade and of being 10 years old?" I replied with something like, sure thing. I also sent a picture of his first day in kindergarten that I had taken. My master plan has been to take a picture of him standing in the same spot on the first day of 5th grade to show the comparison. Her reply to the picture, "Oh I have that one already." Yes, I'm sure you do, was just being nostalgic ABOUT YOUR SON. I knew then, but I already knew before, she didn't really care about the pictures for her reasons given. She wanted to make sure he had on the outfit SHE had picked out. So, Monday morning, I took all my pictures, with his teacher, outside his 5th grade classroom, and the ultimate nostalgic one for a parent, the same location as his first day of kindergarten. I made a simple collage of the two first days, and sent it to her. No super gushy reply (which she totally can be that mom sometimes, which is cool!!!). All I got was, "He has grown so much! ;)" That was it.