Other sources of frustration...

This weekend I was struck by how little regard my MIL has for my opinion where child-rearing is concerned. Initially we only butted heads when Joey got sick but recently I have noticed that no matter what I say, she ignores me and does things her way anyway. One example is that Joey gets hot very easily. He takes after Daisuke and I in that he is a total "atsugari" and over-heats quickly, even when he is asleep. My MIL is the opposite and gets cold easily so she is always convinced that Joey is freezing. It started when he was a newborn and she would cover him with quilts, which he would kick off, start crying and wake up. (Leaving me to deal with the wailing over-heated baby..) He still does the same thing even now and she still doesn`t get the hint. That mini-battle I can handle to a certain extent but on Sunday I got really pissed off because she was changing Joey and I told her that two layers was enough because we were only going to be in the car and I had a coat for outside and the sweater I had laid out for him was on the thick side. She totally ignored what i had just said and put three layers on him AND his coat.. just to be in the car. As we drove, I could see J getting hotter and hotter so at one point I stopped and took the coat off him. Then while we were waiting at the ferry port I noticed his cheeks were really red so I took his temperature and he had a fever of 39.5 degrees. I was really shocked at that and immediately took his sweater off, only to have my MIL say "but he will get cold..." I wanted to punch her because the reason he was so uncomfortable in the first place was the extra layer of clothing that she had put on him despite what I had said. Within half an hour of taking his sweater, I checked his temperature again and lo and behold, his fever had dropped to 38.5. Whenever she ignores what I say, I want to scream "he is MY son, I look after him every day, I KNOW whether he is hot or not, I am not stupid or irresponsible so please stop ignoring my wishes." My Mum`s solution to the problem is to train Joey to tell her when he is too hot but I suspect she will ignore him as well because she seems to think she knows best about everything. I know she isn`t a bad MIL and probably means well but lately it has been really bugging me that she seems to disregard everything I say. I want to yell at her that someone who couldn`t even bring up her son to have manners and say thank you when someone takes time and makes an effort to lovingly make a heart-shaped bento on Valentine`s Day, really should not be allowed to have any say in how I raise MY son. (Who will be trained that such things are not acceptable!!!) Am I bitter? Probably. Am I justified or just a bit of a control-freak? Well.. I will let you guys make up your mind about that!!! LOL!