Moments of grace

A boy and his bears.  The bears are his best friends, next to his little sisters.

My handsome not-so-little boy

Historically, haircuts have not gone well for my young man.  See here and especially here.  Today, however, he shined.

A definition of success for Andrew: stress-free community outing leading to a quick, painless trim. This may not seem like "big news" in the world of special education, but it is HUGE news in my world of parenting a child with autism.  Because of the high-quality Occupational Therapy he receives (thank you, Pathways), my son can tolerate what is, for most young men a stress-free experience.  For him, they have typically included screaming (him), tears (him and me), and frustration (him, me, hair dresser, and other patrons).

Thank you, Jen Z., Lorraine, Kelly, Kerry, Bob and every other amazing OT who helped us get here.  It's a good place.  Andrew is happy with the cookie he chose as a reward for rocking the hair cut experience.

For what it's worth, it makes for a strange life when the highlight of the day has been a hair cut.  Next, onto the needed, and important, process of buying a razor as Andrew very much does not want the beard fuzz on his chin or above his lip. 

My little boy will soon be a teenager.  Time flies.