Dominic

Neither I or the agency I adopted him from have an accurate birth date for him, just a vague knowledge that he was born in 2005 in late January or early February. We've decided to celebrate it on February 4th. He's never celebrated it before, so I'm really excited to make him happy. I'm also a bit anxious, though. What if I don't do a good job? I really want him to feel the magic of a birthday, even if he's not a little kid. 

He really loves animals, especially reptiles. He really wants a snake, and he's been researching, so I've been considering getting a Cali kingsnake for him but I don't know if I want to wait that long (it's mid-late September right now, for anyone reading this question a little later.)

Black is his favorite color but he also likes pink a lot. He's a big fan of Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance, twenty øne piløts, Green Day, Weezer, Fall Out Boy and just alt music in general.

Since this is his first birthday celebration, I'm okay with spending a bit more money than you usually would for birthdays.

Do you guys have any suggestions for what I should do for his birthday?

If you look at my previous (first) question, you'll learn a little more about the 14 year old boy that I'm going to be legally adopting in September. He was heavily abused and has invasive PTSD. He heavily dissociates a lot, and is non verbal. The psychologist the social worker and I have been working with is suggesting that a service dog would probably be very helpful for him. The dog would have to lead/pull him if he blanks out in public, fetch/pick up/carry items, open doors, and prevent people from crowding him or coming up behind him. I want to know what I should look for while I'm searching for a dog that would fit the bill.

I m a single man (soon to be dad!) and I will be legally making [Anon] my son in September. He is fourteen years old, and was heavily abused in his old house (I don t want to call it his home). He won t really give up the details, but his social worker, the psychologist we re working with, and I, are all very certain it was physical and sexual in nature. We re actually working with authorities now concerning the (almost certain) possibility that his biological parents sold him out as a prostitute. Anyhow, he is nonverbal and uses sign language to communicate when he s not dissociating too much to interact with his surroundings. According to the psychologist that we ve been working with, it s a trauma response and with therapy and love he will very likely talk. He is very touch sensitive and loud noises (yelling, slammed doors, etc) as well as the dark upset/scare him. I am a very patient person and am very willing to put all the effort I can into making [Anon] the happiest boy in the world. I ve done a lot of research, thinking, and planning, but I m just looking for some tips or comments.