the one thing i didn't mention about thanksgiving was the fact that my 5 year old brother decided to unlock our bedroom door, get my nail polish out of the linen closet and paint a beautiful picture on our duvet.

john noticed it when he went upstairs to change after all of our guests departed. he came downstairs and said, "there's something on the duvet. you may want to take a look at it. it kind of looks like blood." good times. so, a half hour later (yes, i am lazy but i was POOPED from being on my feet all day) i went upstairs to check out the damage. i notice a glittery sheen to the "blood" and walk in the closet where i found my case of nail polish on our bench.

two issues. number one - the nail polish was in a case in the linen closet. why did he think he had the right to be snooping in our closet? and number two - why did he think he could unlock our door to get inside our bedroom? the way i was raised, if something is locked - it means don't come in. but according to my sister, a locked door is a game to him. he thinks it's fun to lock himself in rooms and hide from people.

SO. i call my dad and ask if he knew if michael had painted our duvet. he asked my brother and he said, "it was an accident." how is it an accident to purposely unlock a door, get nail polish out of the closet and PAINT? he may be 5, but he should know better than that, right? so i let it go.

but then, i get to thinking about it further and i get really upset. how could they not get mad at him? yeah, he's five but he should know right from wrong. at least that's what i think. and then, i call my dad/stepmom, again. my stepmom wanted to know what i had in my room that i didn't want my brother to see. she didn't understand that i wasn't afraid he would see anything, i felt violated. that's our room. i proceeded to get really upset and she handed the phone to my dad. my dad starts yelling at me and telling me that my brother doesn't know better, etc. BULLSHIT. then he tells me that there's no way to punish a five year old, especially since he doesn't even remember what happened at this point. whatever, so i hung up. i just can't deal with the fact that no one will take responsibility for his rights and wrongs.

my dad called back and talked to john. john was much more calm at explaining why we were upset. my dad seemed to understand what john had told him. and i thought it was over with. saturday, i called to apologize. my stepmom offered to buy us a new duvet but the color we have has been discontinued. good times.

THEN. last night at john's parent's house, his grandmother told us that it was our fault and that we should have been keeping an eye on him. excuse me? he's not our child. we shouldn't have to make sure he's behaving himself. am i totally out of line?

ok, enough. i am getting all worked up again.