Gavin was embarrassed today! For the first time ever, I saw Gavin get red in the face and look very self conscious. He's nearly four (next week!) and he has Autism, so it is kind of a big deal to me. I feel like he's really healing when he shows tangible signs of a unique personality like that.

Here is what happened: We were at Fit for Fun, a cool little place downtown for toddlers and babies to hang out and play together. It's a great place. It's kind of a Saturday morning tradition for me and the boys to head downtown for a playdate at either Fit for Fun or Monkey Joe's. We were eating snacks at a toddler sized table and polishing our proficiency in barnyard animal sounds. All of a sudden, from behind Gavin came a little lad that recognized Gavin from school. "Hi Gavin!" he exclaimed. Gavin looked at him, completely caught off guard, then looked at me and in the same instant turned beet red. I was completely thunderstruck. Shyness! I couldn't help it, I just started roaring with laughter, elated to see this new show of his true character. I wanted to tell everybody there "HEY EVERYBODY! My son is EMBARRASSED! Can you believe it?" Of course, probably no one there would have grasped the depth of what I had seen, unless they too had a child stricken with Autism.

I don't go around introducing him as "Gavin, with Autism." So, a lot of people we encounter at the park and other places might not even see him as different. Yes, he's got some really odd behaviors, I guess. Maybe people do see him differently? I don't know. At any rate, I was pretty psyched when I saw that flash of individuality in him.