Yes, we cut Gavin's hair! He is growing up. He has started kindergarten and the party is over. Does he miss his long, wavy mane? Well, judging by the photos, one might think so. In exhibit A: He looks looks like some mischievous kid who may have just cut class to sneak into a Backyardigans concert. In mugshot, er, exhibit B: He looks like a common five year old, mired by the humdrum, wearisome duties of Kindergarten life. He looks 3 years older to me as well.

The truth is that he loves his new haircut. He was excited, although hesitant, when we breached the subject with him before we went to the kids' barber. It is a big milestone for him! He's been a little boy with long hair for as far back as he can remember. The actual cutting wasn't too scary, even for a boy with autism. He sat still, stiff as a board, cringing the whole time with his face contorted in a mixture of fear and excitement. There were no tears. He watched his long locks falling to the floor through little slits in his tightly scrunched eyelids. After about twenty minutes, the transformation was complete.

The first few hours post-haircut, he did express some "barbershop remorse". I asked him if he wanted his long hair back, and he said "Yes, can we put it back on?"
I said "No, it takes a long time to grow."
He said "Like the grass?"
"Well, yeah. Kinda."

However, by the next morning he was completely enamored with his new look. He leapt out of bed and ran to the mirror, just beaming and giggling. I guess he had to see if it had all been a dream! The haircut was still there, and it hadn't changed his sparkling, buoyant personality a bit.

Now he (and Garrett) both refer to their hair as "haircuts". For example, "Garrett hurt me on my haircut!" It makes sense, I suppose, since Gavin just had hair before. Now he has a haircut. 

Last weekend I took the terrible trio to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, which is a pretty magnificent place. We go there quite a bit. Its a cheap date - only 8 bucks! They've got a huge tank full of all types of the local sea life, and at 10:30 on Saturdays divers swim around in there and put on a show for the kiddies. These boys love it. Every time, Gavin wants me to go in there and help the divers. He says "You can have a diver suit, daddy. Just like a diver!" And every time, I suggest to him that he might like to swim in there with the sharks. He looks at me wide eyed, gets a little panicky, and we quickly move on to see the octopus.

The aquarium is great. When you first walk in, you're greeted by a huge (and very realistic) stuffed alligator with mouth agape. Very intimidating, but apparently not to a 2 year old. See photo! My favorite part is the Cape Fear Conservatory which is like a huge greenhouse filled with all the local reptiles, birds and fish that live around here. The harmless critters are allowed to just roam freely, while the more lethal variety are obviously penned up. Gavin and Garrett love the alligators, who mostly just float motionless. Bodie is content just to study his brothers as they gawk at the animals.

Here's Gavin asking a silly question "Who's in the water?" He's funny with his questions. He knows I love to hear him ask questions, but he usually asks a strange one that he already knows the answer to. Its a funny little quirk of his. So I'll give him a silly answer, like "Those are big green beans in that water." Then he gets serious: "NO daddy. Those are NOT green beans. They are alligators." For a boy with autism, this kind of dialogue marks a great milestone in his development. I am just so glad he can interact with me in a meaningful way. An even better question came this morning. I was making breakfast and had the eggs sitting on the counter. He came up and looked at the eggs and asked "What is inside the eggs?" I told him yellow yolks are inside. Then he asked "Who put the yellow yolks in the eggs?" He really knocked my socks off with that one! I told him chickens make the eggs. He said "Yes. They do that at the farm." ...NICE! I love these conversations.

It's ironic that the best part of the aquarium visits for these kids is the bridge over the little turtle pond. They spend a good 20 minutes there every time just looking down at the native turtles, oohing and ahhing. You would think after seeing all the exotic sea creatures, a few little box turtles would seem pretty mundane. Not to Gavin and Garrett. They've become expert turtle watchers, counting turtles and labeling each as "big or little". Important stuff! Somebody has to keep track of those turtles. I would love for these guys to grow up to be marine biologists someday. They've got a good start!

Gavin's "American Flag Big Wheel Roller Skate Birthday Party" was terrific! Everything went great, just too fast. Lots of his friends from school and their parents came, the skating rink was packed! Almost everybody put on roller skates - that was unexpected. Nobody got hurt - that was really unexpected!

We had a local baker called "Imaginary Friends Bakery" whip up a special cake with a flapping flag which was a hit. I think everyone had a great time. Garrett mostly sat and munched snacks, he was in snacking heaven. He did take his trike around the track a few times. Bodie got to hang with his Grammy the whole time, and Gavin was able to keep his cool in the midst of all the excitement. I was worried he would be so over stimulated he would just lay on the floor and shut down.

Gavin's awesome teachers came with ... drumroll please ... a NEW BIKE! He was so fired up about that. Now it's all he wants to do, ride the bike! He's already zipping around the driveway with it. They also brought him a helmet and pads, very appropriate! So far he hasn't crashed. Thank God for training wheels!

When Gavin woke up yesterday at 5:30 am, the day after the party, he was very groggy. I gave him a big hug and asked him if he had a fun time. He said "Yes. And maybe for the next time when I am six we can have a North Carolina flag party." That might be a little more difficult. Maybe he'll have to change his mind. We can't fill all of his desires, just some of them! Then he said "Dad, please don't put the stinky air from your mouth onto my nose." Haha.