After a difficult year, Nicholas Tyrrell walked into his elementary school classroom Friday, with a newfound spring in his step.

After all, the six-year-old student had just received an official patch from a Toronto police officer on duty outside his northwest Toronto school.

Nicholas' mother, Jaime Christian, was walking her son to school when he waved to the police officer, who was sitting in a cruiser in front of the building.

“As we were walking by, my son just waved to him and said, ‘Hi, how are you today?’” Christian told CTVNews.ca.

She said, rather than simply waving back, the officer, identified as Const. Euan McDermott, waved her son over.

“The police officer said, ‘You know what, I can recognize a special kid. I saw a bunch of kids this morning, but I think that you’re special, I think that you’re a really good kid,’” Christian said.

Then the officer handed her son a police patch.

Christian said that the encounter “made” her son’s day.

And it was an act of kindness that meant a lot after a difficult year, Christian says. In May, Christian and her new husband lost their home in Fort McMurray to the wildfires that ravaged the Alberta town.

With Christian and Nicholas in Toronto, and her husband taking care of matters in Alberta, the family won’t be together for the holidays. On top of that, Nicholas is struggling with an ADHD diagnosis.

“So with the Christmas season and it being our first holiday as a family we can’t be together and it’s very very hard on us,” Christian said. “Last night we were decorating the tree and my son was in a little bit of a sad mood this morning.”

So to have one of his “heroes, a police officer,” offer kind and encouraging words, it just “brightened my son’s whole day,” she added.

Christian said, after the encounter her son walked into classroom, showed his teacher and classmates his patch and said, ‘I’m Officer Nicky, and we’re all going to be good.’”

She added: “It was so wonderful to see my son light up and for an officer that doesn’t know anything about our situation just to do something out of the goodness of his heart, it really did make a kid feel so special.”

Christian was so moved by the police officer’s gesture that she phoned his division to speak with his supervisor, who has offered to give Nicholas a tour.