Twins
My twins Kieren and David are 5 and are on the spectrum but we haven’t yet received a diagnosis, they are very alike in ways but completely different in others. Kieren is a solitary child (unless he's with his brothers) he too likes order and anything routine I have to go in every one of his favorite shops every time we go out regardless of whether we buy anything or not we still have to go in, he loves straight lines and can draw extremely straight lines on blank paper, curiously enough his favorite letter is w and will spend hours drawing symmetrical w's.
He is very detached he doesn’t like to be bothered and is always focused on what he is doing, he has recently began constructing things out of his kid knex using the instructions, one day I went to pick him up from nursery and he'd created a whole army of kidknex men he only stopped when he ran out of pieces, he loves dressing up and is completely at home when they do fancy dress at the nursery and its one of the only times he will join in fully. he has developed a very close bond with my 10 month old baby Willie which was a great surprise to us as Willie loves to just trundle in and completely mess up his toys or climb on things. we did worry how they would react when he was born but we needn't have. this is a bond he also shares with his twin David.
I often go in in the morning to find them cuddled up next to each other fast asleep. David is a boisterous child definitely the more dominant one of the gang. he also likes order and we have to watch what we say to him as he has a very good memory and will remember what we have said for example: we’ll go to Tesco then toys-r-us then home, if we don’t then follow this then we have trouble on our hands. David is more free when it comes to art he likes to stick his hands in paint and just go nuts, he’s generally easier to bargain with but has a hot temper on him and now that he’s getting stronger is sometimes hard to handle but if he knows what’s happening he’s usually quite happy. the first 3 years were very difficult but I feel over the last year and a half they have really come out of their shells. they are great big brothers very loving and helpful (when Willie cries they make him laugh) I think he is really the making of them he brought out the best in them really let me see what they were capable of. they share everything with him (which is a first they never share with anyone) he’s even allowed to mess up Kierens straight line of trains and take his shoes off which no one else is allowed to do many good times ahead.
