Jessie Barber took her disabled 18-month-old son to Disney and a video of an interaction between the boy and Winnie the Pooh has become an internet honey pot.
Barber and her wife traveled from Kentucky with their four adopted children to the Orlando theme park this week.
The toddler was born with cerebral palsy that stems from a brain injury at birth and functions at a 4-to-6-month-old level, Yahoo News reported.
In the video, while the child sits in an adaptive stroller at a character breakfast at The Crystal Palace at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Winnie the Pooh comes over, holds his hand and nuzzles his face.
The child smiles.
"For those of you who have disabled children know the (feeling) when people look but aren't sure how to interact with your kiddo," Barber wrote in a post with a video of the interaction on Facebook. "This Winnie the Pooh melted my heart and knew exactly what to do! He spent 10+ minutes with our little guy and he loved every second of it."
They bought a Winnie the Pooh pin and stuck it to his stroller to commemorate the experience.
"This was his first time at Disney World," Barber told WTSP. "I had no idea the video would go viral. We were just hoping to reach other special needs families to show this amazing interaction and that it is worth the trip to Disney."
They saw Pooh again the next day, which brought a smile to the child’s face.
"Our son recognized Pooh and started smiling," Barber told Yahoo News. "We wanted to make sure he or she was recognized."
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