Lately I have been really exposed a lot to ss16 (almost 17) b/c ss20 is here and so he hangs out in the living room a lot more. We have no rec room so the living room is grand central station. I have been noticing that ss16 never, ever says a word directly to me, ever. He ignores me like I do not exist. I have been thinking over the whole past 4.6 years that I have known him and I cannot remember one time where we have sat and talked. I am not fond of ss20 but he talks to me ALOT, I mean he is always telling me things I am not interested in but I talk back and our conversation is normal, like a ball that we are bouncing back and forth. When ss16 is in the room he will talk with ss20 and dh and laugh and have a good time, as soon as I come into the room he gets very quiet and just sits there awkwardly. It's like I am the elephant in the room. I have talked over and over to DH about this and he has even talked to ss16 about it, and to no avail. I talk to him periodically but either I get a shrug, or a no or yes if I am LUCKY. It's like I throw him a conversation "ball" and he just lets it hit the ground and roll away. Then he walks away.

Last evening we sat and watched a movie, not my boys b/c they dislike ss20 so much that for the past month they have been holed up in their room, especially bs18. Anyways, ss16 was laying on the couch, taking up a whole couch so that ss20 had to be on the floor, and first he was cracking his joints, (back, neck, and knuckles and then his toes knuckles too) and then he started (literally) biting his toe nails. It was just so gross and I thought DH would notice and say something but he didn't, so I said "ss16, really?" so he quit. But then a few minutes later he got up and stomped off to his room. He is so sensitive and then over reacts. Like he took 4 hotdogs first, then came back with seconds of 4 more hotdogs and I said "OMG ss16 that's a lot" (in a surprised voice but not harsh) and everyone kinds went wow you must be hungry, ss16 got up and threw the second 4 hotdogs into the garbage. DH said not to over react but ss16 just sat and stared in a blank stare at the tv until we all turned our attention back to the movie.

He just has all these weird habits and it does bug me, but I KNOW darn well he knows how to converse with people!