Again?

DH got an email this afternoon about DS#2 from his GT (Gifted and Talented) teacher. Apparently he and another boy had already finished the exercise. The answers were in the back of the book and they were told explicitly not to look there. Well, they did. He said they were trying to check their answers. This might not seem like much, but it follows his recent behavior pattern of defying authority and doing whatever he wants to, even if it breaks the rules.

One of the other things he got in trouble for yesterday was the fact that he insisted that another boy's toys were his. To us this was the same as lying and we were horrified that he would try to take away another boy's stuff. This has become a frustrating pattern for us. He believes something and he will believe it with his whole body and soul, and all the arguing in the world won't make him change his mind. Unfortunately, this is one of his personality traits. One benign incident that illustrated this trait was recently when DS#2 insisted that he had seen a trailer for Spiderman 4. Well, that movie hasn't even started production yet, and won't until at least next year, but yet he insisted that he had seen the trailer. You might even call this personality trait "stubbornness".

So, tomorrow, DS#2's class is supposed to have some fun activities to celebrate the end of the TAKS testing, which is a standardized test the results of which everything seems to be based on here in Texas from school funding to teacher bonuses. It's also the last day before Spring Break. DS#2's teacher emailed us today about whether or not we want him to be able to participate in this, because of the recent disciplinary actions. DH emailed her back about letting him miss half of it. We felt so cruel even at that, but this seemed to have made more of an impression on him than taking away his other privileges. He was sobbing for a while after we told him. *SIGH* I hope I won't have more incidents to write about tomorrow!