While most of the time there are no obvious indications of this, there is about 2% of the time when he does act out. Unfortunately for people outside of our family, that 2% tends to overshadow the other 98% and is the only thing people remember about him. To say the least, this makes keeping in contact with other people who have children nearly impossible. It even makes spending time with our extended family strained and very uncomfortable.
Today #1 left the house happy, doing good, looking forward to some various things that were to happen today, and with no indication that there would be any problems.
Of course, that all came to a screeching halt when he had a misunderstanding with his instructor for art class. It seems the instructor gave an assignment Friday which #1 thought he understood. The assignment was to make a "non-representational drawing". #1 understood this to mean he was to put something on paper which did not resemble anything. He gleefully undertook the assignment and finished it rather rapidly. When he tried to turn it in today, he claims the instructor told him it was crap (I don't believe the instructor actually said that, I believe it was the interpretation #1 made) and asked him to re-do it. At this time he supposedly told #1 that there should be some visible shapes in the drawing.
Herein lies the problem.
#1 understood "non-representational drawing" to just be artistic type gobble-de-gook on a piece of paper. The instructor likely (although not being there I really don't know what was said) told them that it was to be generalized shapes and colors not representing any specific thing. He believed he had done the assignment as required, so he refused to re-do it. From that point things snowballed and it was rapidly becoming not a happy place for #1 to be in. His belligerence quickly escalated what would have been a minor issue with the teacher into a giant monster that was uncontrollable.
This is typical of how the problems start. #1 does not listen to all the instructions, if he listens to any at all. He will do an assignment the way he wants to do it rather than the way it is supposed to be done, then he gets all bent out of shape and his behavior rapidly disintegrates into something that is less than desirable.
Well, at least it keeps Hubby and I on our toes. While I occasionally am heard to mutter that I wish I had "normal" kids. When I stop and think about it I realize that without the kids being who they are life would be so incredibly dull. Things may not always be a walk in the park, but they are a bed of roses.
Full of beautiful things, but with lots of thorns to make it interesting.