Our T at 15yrs 

Wow, how on earth can time pass so quickly?  It doesn’t seem 15 years yesterday since we welcomed our son into the world.  In typical T-fashion, he wasn’t early or late, but bang on his due date.  

These past few years have seen challenges for T; from the realisation that his primary school wasn’t meeting his needs and a school move in year 5, to his autism diagnosis at age 10, then the appeal to ensure he got into the most appropriate secondary school for him and this term, the fact he now takes two trains and then a walk to school as the school bus service ceased.

Through it all, he’s kept (mostly) constant with his main passion remaining football, as it has been from 18 months old.   He could identify all the teams in the Premier League by their badges at age 2 and would carry laminated top trumps football cards and a badge sheet everywhere.  His nursery teacher would know that T would update her on all the football scores every Monday morning, such a good memory for stats even then! When playing, he is luckily a good left-footed player and has seen team (and club) changes but seems settled in his current team and enjoys the fact that his team plays as a team and his team mates take it seriously.  Because T does, very.

He sticks to the food he’s always liked to eat and, despite the fact he’s studying nutrition as part of his GCSE course, sticks to the bland “white” foods he’s always eaten – toast, white bread with bovril, weetabix, yoghurts.  The only fruit he enjoys are blueberries and in his typical “all or nothing” attitude, will very easily polish off the majority of a white loaf or a punnet of blueberries during an evening.  

As well as football being his passion, watching YouTube takes up a “lot” of his time, it can get a little bit frustrating trying to hold a conversation past three grunted answers or actually getting yourself heard because the headphones are always on, but it’s his calming, regulating method after a day at school (not to mention the challenges of the journey).

T’s presents yesterday were very football-focussed, the new FIFA game (perhaps Sainsbury’s will now stop suggesting that game to me during online shops), the new Home and third kit shirts and shorts for the team he supports and various other bits.  I had a little chuckle when he presented us with a “wish list” which included designer sliders, no doubt because he’s seen the players he admires wearing them – no, Just no.  Fortunately he seemed pleased with his haul.

GCSEs beckon in the next couple of years and that will be a challenge, T has the most amazing memory for facts and stats, I hope he doesn’t get overly stressed and gives them a good go.

We just want him to be happy and hope that the next 15 years don’t pass by as fast!

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