Life has gotten in the way tonight of me posting. I want to do a swap thread justice and I'm not able to do it tonight. I'll post tomorrow...I'll leave you guys with this. It's an awesome swap box!!!!!;-) OMG! So awesome and completly perfect. Goldgirl, you sure know how to swap! I love everything and I DH is loving it too! Thank you!

Okay, I'm still waiting for that other swap box to be delivered. It must either be coming from or going to Lisa in Germany, I think. Otherwise I think it would have been delivered by now! Anyway, that is my current guess. Is Colleen playing? If so, then it could be to or from her. I received a package in one swap that was sent via a slow boat from Japan, and it was more than well worth the wait! Lars

riverrat1 - this is one of the few places where people could understand someone having a jam collection! That is one delicious sounding package. I'm pretty sure no one else here would appreciate the tangerine marmalade as much as I would. Or the blackberry jam. So if you would be so kind, just put them back in the box, stuff a little newspaper in there (you know, to keep them from breaking - wouldn't want them bouncing around like bb's in a boxcar, now would we?) and ship them on over here. Oh, and I tasted pickled watermelon rind for the first time this past June asn LOVED it. You can put that one in there too, just to balance out the box. Thanks.

Thanks everybody! So, pretty much we just have to grin and bear it, while sticking to the "no, you don't need that" and hope it gets better. Oh, thinking more about this last night before I fell asleep - we may be having a little success. I was thinking about how he used to be at the grocery store: He used to ask for everything, including things knows he doesn't like, and then get MAD MAD MAD when he didn't get it (apparently, not having chutney bought for you when you won't eat Indian food is worth sobbing and hiding behind the eggs)... But now he still asks for lots of things, but they're mostly things he actually likes, and he doesn't get mad when he gets told no. FD - I totally agree that a 9yo doesn't need $200 for his birthday. GM gave him ~$60, so did Papa and SGM, and then some of his friends gave him cash instead of toys/books/games/etc. IMO, that money should have been collected by an adult and at least half been put into savings, with the remaining portion to spend under adult supervision. And just to clarify, our plans for this aren't ever explained to A__, they're just things we've tried that don't really seem to be working... But I see your point that we may be overthinking this. IIKD - "The kid couldn't even go get gas with DH without coming home with *at least* a pack of gum" This sounds all too familiar! He's just not allowed out of the car at the gas station anymore because taking him into the store starts the barrage of "Can I have..." Mom2 - ""if my mom was here I would be able to get it"" I hear ya! I sometimes play the "I don't have enough money for that" (whether it is true or not) and he says "Why don't you get my dad to pay you back?" Psuedo - "I won't invite you out to lunch again." I got fed up awhile back when we were out doing something extra cool together (a children's play) and the "I want" parade began. I calmly said "Look, A__, I don't have to take you places and do cool stuff with you, I do it because I want to. We go to plays and museums and so on because I like for us to have some extra fun together. But when you do that, it's not fun for me anymore and makes me not want to make special plans for us. So let's just enjoy the play. Kapeesh?" Maybe there was some better way to react, I don't know... But that's what I did. TOS - "I think this (and the fact that he is nine) is 99.9% of the explanation." Any suggestions on coping mechanisms to try to teach him? His decision-making and anger-management have come a loooooong way in the past 6 months, but I don't know what do to about this one.