Hello livmag: Unfortunately, I don't know enough about child psychology to be able to offer you insight with regard to what's going on here. My thinking is that you handled the yarn incident perfectly. You didn't react. You just went over, calmly, & untangled the yarn. Then you walked away. I think if you can continue to apply that kind of logic to the other situations you find yourself in with him, you'll be doing as much as it is possible for you to do.

It sounds as though having the child seen by a child psychologist would be a good idea. However, that's not anything you can accomplish. So I would just recommend that you continue to practice "non-reactivity". For some reason this boy feels the need to get a rise out of you at every opportunity. Continue to avoid playing his game. My best wishes to you!