Sunday 3 May 2009

The Star and The Dragon

I have previously explained the meaning of my
children's names. There is another translation
for Cirwen - Beautiful Star. Indeed she is pretty.

To make a decision to have another child after
Cirwen's diagnosis was very difficult. During
the early years she needed so much attention,
support and help, I wasn't sure if I could cope
with a newborn as well. Up till the age of 4 she
was also incredibly attached just to me. Cirwen
loved her Dad, but didn't know how to bond with
two people in the same time. Similarly she had
trouble playing with more than one child. There
were still tantrums, not a lot of language and
settling at school, which meant my close contact
with teachers, trying to push for Special Needs
Statement.

In the end, after overcoming the fear of autism
itself, fear of having another child who might
have be more severely autistic - we did it.
Cirwen was eight years old when Draco joined
our small family. She was well settled then and
her awareness of others, bond with her Dad were
well established. She understood why the tiny
baby needed more attention and we also made
sure she didn't felt left out. She held her brother
the first time she saw him, she helped feeding
him once I moved to the bottle formula.

Draco is absolutely free of autism. Typical, lively
and mischievous boy. Since he loves his cuddles
and kisses he gets twice as much. For all lost
Cirwen's kisses. The only problem is, that now
I think he is incredibly easy to look after as he
develops on a typical level. He is two and a half
now, runs and climbs everywhere, feeds himself,
can count to twelve and he has already started
to build sentences. He also knows his manners.
With all that, when I compare him and Cirwen at
the same age we both, with my husband, think he
is a genius! In truth he is just a typical little boy.

Cirwen adores him and reckons he is the cutest boy
in the world. She is the only person who can make
him "belly laugh" just by pulling a face. In return
Draco is looking up to her and waits for her to come
back from school.

Draco is our little warrior - anything in his hand can
change into a sword and we hear lots of "high ya!"
during the day, next is his bucket full of tools and
then we have Handy Manny banging away with the
hammer. Although Cirwen was always a very "girly"
girl, she joins him in his adventures. She is very
careful, very protective and I can easily leave her
in a room with her brother without supervision.

I am sure now, that she has taught him to count, and
heard her asking Draco to say various words. She is
incredibly proud of all his little achievements.

They say, a big age gap between siblings may cause problems
in bonding. Not in this case. Little Dragon is looking up
to his Beautiful Star, who shines with love and care at
him. I hope it will stay like this, and one day the Little
Dragon will grow up to become the Star's warrior guardian.

10 comments:

  1. ah, thats so sweet :)

    your children's names are so cool. cirwen and draco.

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  2. WOW, what a wonderful family you have. I am so happy for you that you both decided to take the chance, and have a nother baby.
    Your children sound so wonderful, and they really love each other.
    Good job Mom!

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  3. The two of them sound lovely and I'm glad that they are so good with each other. I suspect they'll both grow up into wonderful children.

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  4. That was an awesome answer!

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  5. I agree with all of the above. What a wonderful family and I have no doubt that the bond between them will only grow stronger.
    SQ

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  6. Such a cool blog about the bond between siblings. I love that last paragraph..very poetic and touching.

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  7. Perfect! To say anything else would be an understatement.

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  8. Thank you all. I didn't want to come through as that perfect mum. I'm not, there are things we have to look at and correct when it needs it. Kids are kids and they do misbehave, we make mistakes as well, so no perfection here too. But I guess we are doing something right :-)

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  9. Check it out ... GUESS who the Featured Blogger of the week is!! :O)
    --YOU--

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  10. What wonderful children you seem to have. Its no nice the way you describe the way in which they play.

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