On Wednesdays, Alex has speech therapy after school and I have to pick him up so we arrive to his appointment on time (if he rode the bus home, we’d never make it!). It has become our tradition to stop at Starbucks on our way to the session; this not only soothes the sting of not getting to ride the bus home, but also provides my afternoon dose of caffeine.

The baristas are familiar with Alex by now, and even remember his name and his order (although they always wait patiently while he finds the words to place his own order!). He always asks for the same things: a chocolate chip cookie and a cup of water. His smile after he orders shows us all how proud he is of this aspect of independence.

Today, after he devoured his cookie in the car, he asked me if I could “clean him up” when we got to speech. Of course, I agreed, to which he replied “Good. I’m a hot mess.”

This kid. Love him.