This child of mine has never been a fan of coloring.

You know when you (used to be able to) go to restaurants, and the host/hostess would hand you those tiny, little boxes of crayons with their children’s menu to pass time?

Ya, we passed on those after awhile.

They’d end up rolled under someone’s booth, or halfway through the middle of a piece of pizza.
So we learned.

As much as I want my child to strive to be artistic and imaginative through artwork, it just doesn’t happen that way most days.

But he shows his creative side in so many other ways. And gosh, my boy is smart! He enjoys mirroring images, playing color and object matching games, and most of all, he enjoys the outdoors.

Good ol’ fashioned fun in the sun.

You won’t hear me complaining about any of that. It brings such a big smile to our faces!

But then sometimes we are granted days like these, where my boy will pick up his giant “Frozen 2” coloring pages, point to Elsa, find her on his tablet, and then begin to scribble with his Crayons.

UNPROMPTED.

And I could just about burst into a billion little pieces of glitter and sunshine.

This is progress.
This is initiative.
This is growth and change.
All of which can be difficult sometimes, but my autistic, nonverbal, beautiful boy is putting his next step forward, without me pulling from the other side.

You go ahead, little man! You’re doing it!
And Mama will be right here with you, in whatever you want to do.