Michelle Sagara

Quite a bit of what you write, I recognize as happening with 2 -4 year olds. For that age child, people expect "strange behavior" but most don't consider that it might be perfectly logical and possible for an adult to understand. One thing that fits, that you haven't mentioned. At one point we were getting frustrated, because the kid KNEW she was supposed to ask (permission or something) but seemed to have no concept of whether the adult being asked was in the room, or paying attention, or capable of understanding a whisper/mumble. Theory of mind? (You ever see that with your son?)