Sigma Boy

Just like the song.

So, I think I mentioned before that the Young Viking, is loved by his teachers, despite him running out of class to chase lizards (almost onto the main road), at least once running out of class, popping into his older sister’s class three years ahead of him and then doing a wobbly stick man dance (with sounds), refusing to take part in anything that remotely involves singing and dancing with the class/school/theatre, and regularly doing his own thing while the rest of the class does team activities. And refusing to speak any Italian even though he now understands it pretty well.

The teachers also told me that when he was sick for a couple of days, on his return, he was mobbed by all the girls in his class.

Well… there is one girl he gets on with. I’ll call her Ina (not her name at all). It was another kid’s birthday and he got invited to the party, and my eldest daughter took him to it. It was a costume party, being near carnival time, and he went as Spiderman. When they returned I asked my daughter how it went.

Scorpio Girl: Well… he took his costume off and played the whole time with Ina. They basically ignored everyone else and played together the whole time. And they have the same crazy energy.

I later find out that this girl is Ukrainian and didn’t speak Italian when she arrived but now speaks English, and she is also the only one the YV speaks any words of Italian to. Apparently, according to the teachers, he taught her English and she makes him speak in Italian.

Anyway, a couple of incidents took place that make it clear that… well… judge for yourself.

His sisters all have a bunch of beads and strings to make bracelets with. So the YV gets it into his head that he wants to make Ina a bracelet, which he does, by himself, and the next day takes it to school and gives it to her. Now his older sister is a curious, nosy little thing, so she spied on him the whole time because she wanted to see what would happen when he gave Ina the bracelet.

Her report: Monkey Girl: She hugged him! With one leg up, behind her, you know like in the movies!

Out of slight fatherly pride, I asked him about it.

Me: So she hugged you? (nonchalantly)

YV: Yes. Then another girl hugged me too.

Monkey Girl: Oh yes, the one with brown hair, it’s true, she hugged him too!

YV: Yeah but I didn’t like that hug so much, because that girl is chunky.

Wife (horrified!) [Young Viking’s Name] (at several decibels higher than necessary) Don’t you EVER call that poor girl that!

YV: (Shrugs, non plussed at all) OK then. Fat.

Wife: (Nearly has an apoplectic fit) and launches into a lengthy discussion about how the girl probably hasn’t got a great nutrition, and it’s not her fault, she’s just a child, and he should never go around calling people fat, it’s rude, blah, blah, (I tuned out).

The point is the boy wasn’t being malicious, just autistically honest. And I recognised the Aspie-style symptoms long ago already. He is brutally honest, thinks waaaay ahead into the future, is capable of postponing gratification and absolutely HATES getting anything wrong.

Anyway… a couple of days pass, Ina gives him a bracelet she made back, he makes another one a few days ago, then today, I collect him from school, and… a proposal of nothing he says:

YV: Dad, today Ina got REALLY mad at me, because she thought I liked another girl.

Me: (Internally…WTF?! He’s 6!) Oh yeah? So what happened.

YV: Well, she was really mad, but then I wrote her some notes and she was fine.

Me: Uh… what did you write on the notes?

YV: Oh, just some eXes and Os and maybe like an I love you, but we din’t say it… only wrote it.

Me: I see… and who’s the other girl?

YV: Ummm… well..she has brown hair and these small ear-rings…

Monkey Girl: You mean [name] or [name2] or is it [name3]

YV: (Shrugs)

Me: You don’t even know her name? You’ve been going there for months!

YV: (Shrugs again)

Me: …so…did you like the other girl?

YV: Eh.. not really, it’s more that Ina thought I did.

Oh well. I may get to be a grandfather before I move off this life yet.

Possibly before he gets out of the Judge Academy, at this rate.