hi Pat!
I like this photo of your stepson. He looks very relaxed and happy. The background looks fine to me and the blurred edges didn't stick out to me until you mentioned them. His face seems a little bit too shiny for my taste, but that's just me.
The only thing I noticed that seemed distracting was that the corners of his eyes seemed reddish-pink and veiny. I'm guessing because you selectively colored his eyes and let the real color come through and in doing so included the very corners of his eyes as well. ???
Or...is it MY eyes?!!
Also, I do agree with Windrider that a crop with more space on the left may make a difference.