First The Bad, Then The Good

I get a call today from my son's principal. Seems that my son and one of his so called "friends" got caught in the bathroom with a lighter today. My son's "friend" had lit the toilet paper on fire, and my son was attempting to burn the wall... It's cinder block, so no worry of actually setting it on fire, but still.... But, because he cooperated fully with the principal, didn't even attempt to lie about anything, and even went into the bathroom and showed him where and what he had done, even owning up to the fact that he was the one who brought them to school, they didn't give him In School Suspension, even though I think they should have, and only seperated him from the normal class for today.
He didn't lie to the principal, but to me and the family it's a different story. I gave him a chance to come to me with this when he got home, but instead he attempted to avoid me altogether by going straight upstairs when he got home. I called him downstairs, and when he walked into the kitchen, I just stared at him. He looked at me and claimed he didn't have any homework. I just continued to stare at him, and he started to get upset, saying that he wasn't lying, he didn't have any homework. That's when I said, "No, but you do have something else for me, don't you?" and that's when he said "A note? Oh. I accidently left that at school." I informed him that he and I needed to have a serious talk. We started discussing how he has been lying to me for at least a week, and that it was time to come clean. I asked him where he had been getting the lighters from, and he said his friend gave them to him. I never broke my eye contact with him, told him not to lie to me. He said he got them from his friend. I got closer to his face, still not losing eye contact, lowering my voice, I repeated do not lie to me. He said he got them from outside. Getting even closer to his face, maintaining eye contact still, lowering my voice even more, I tell him "do NOT lie to ME!" That's when he got that look on his face and in his eyes that tells me that he realizes that if he lies to me again, he's going to be in SERIOUS trouble, and saying "Yes, Ma'am, I got them downstairs." I knew he was telling the truth at that point, and I knew that he understood the level of trouble he was in.
I've explained to him that he has completely lost all trust, and that only over time, and a LOT of effort on his part, will he be able to earn it back. So, in the meantime, I will be searching his backpack, his coat, his clothes, and anything else necessary to ensure that he is NOT taking anything innappropriate or dangerous to school. He has lost all of his toys for an indeterminate amount of time, and I am making the arrangements to take him to the children's hospital to visit with burn victims. I want him to see what the end result of playing with fire will cause.
(I'm very proud of myself for restraining the absolute anger I felt this afternoon, and I am very proud of how calmly I managed to handle this situation.)

Now, 20 minutes after dealing with my son, I get a phone call. The number shows up BLOCKED NUMBER, so I have no idea who it is, but I answer it anyway. This really nice female voice on the other end asks, "Is this Tammy?" I say yes, and she tells me who she is... It's the paralegal from my lawyers office, Angel, and she informs me that she is currently holding something in her hand that will make me VERY happy. I say "Is that so?" And she proceeds to inform me that in her hand is the Interim Order of Visitation, signed by the judge, and that we got exactly what we had asked for. Meaning, my little angel of child, Jenny, only has to go over to my Bitch ex-in-law's house twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday, from 9 a.m. to noon. No more over night visits, and no more all day visits!! WOOHOO!! I literally started jumping up and down there in my kitchen, screaming YAAAAAY!!! All while my neighbor/friend is standing there staring at me, asking me "What? What? What the hell is going on?" Upon which I inform her of what Angel had just told me, she joins me in my celebration.

So I go from really really mad, to getting some GREAT news! Yay! Oh my God, I can't even begin to say how happy this makes me! It just shows me that the judge is seeing that I AM in fact, a GOOD mom, who does take care of her child(ren). And I hope that it shows Mary that she is very quickly losing her grip on this case, and that she WILL lose it!! Of course, at the same time, I don't want her to realize that, because I don't want her to drop it, which will leave it available to be reopened, whereas if we go all the way through and get the ruling, she can't refile anything. I'm just glad this is almost over! Yay!