School Picture Day

Picture day, is typically an exciting day for most moms. Something to hang on the wall and track progression through the years of our children. Even though Atticus is autistic and I never know how the pictures will turn out we try to stay positive and get dressed up for them.
Taking prompted pictures is not an easy task for Atticus, he usually doesn’t want to smile when someone says to, or stand in a line and wait his turn, or have a change in his daily routine. Atticus started at 3 in early childhood development where he attended a regular elementary in that program, to receive beneficial therapy for his learning going forward. So this was his first picture day:

Not scared just smiling! Most people didn’t even notice part of his arm cut off because his teacher was holding him in place. But as his mom I knew right away and I was thankful she took to time to make sure he was in the right position. On the way to school he was in a very good mood so I snapped a cute picture just in case they didn’t turn out. But looks like I didn’t need to that day and I ended up with two great pics to remember that day🩵

The next school year we were officially in pre-k and these photos were fun to see. Mainly because I forgot it was picture day so wild hair, no pep-talk or preparation for the photo and here’s what we got:

Photo on the left was our first take. Luckily there was retakes and we got a more prepared picture on the left. But that wasn’t all spring pictures came up and the photographer had a great setup that engaged him fully so smiling for that one wasn’t a problem!

Moving on to kindergarten, Atticus was at a new school fully in the special needs room with wonderful teachers who kept him as motivated as I was to get a good picture. School year pictures were first:

I feel like he probably was ready and then got distracted. Which is fine, his hair was fixed and he was looking at the camera. I take lots of pictures of my boy so I can read his face in most situations and I think he probably just smiled at the wrong moment and sometimes you just get what you get when it comes to school pictures. Good news though we still had spring pictures coming! And as you can see those usually are the ones that turn out better for us. I guess it’s something about the end of the year getting closer:

I love these! Smiling, looking forward, rocking his longer hair! I just love how this shows not only his fun beautiful smile, but also his silly personality. To my surprise on that same day he had kindergarten graduation picture:

And it’s safe to say he was a little distracted by the cap and gown but overall turned out adorable. We even got a little wink out of this one.

Anyone out there reading this post with an autistic child I hope you smiled, and I hope you love every school picture you get of your little ones. Remember, it’s not just about getting a shot of your kid in the school year, it’s about looking back at those pictures years down the road and getting to take a trip down memory lane.

From a mother’s perspective – Rachel