shue

She had poor eye-contact always, and she was not affectionate. She was "rigid", to my touch from day one, unless it suited her, like when she needed to be nursed or changed or moved about. She still prefers contact on her terms, though she is increasingly physically affectionate all the time. From the first day we had her home, my friend said of her, "She is so pensive. It's as if she is solving quadratic equations." She was a very solemn baby and young toddler. She ignored people most of the time, people asked me if she was deaf, and she was very aloof. She has always had extreme reactions, often seemingly out of the blue, and has been very difficult to calm. We originally began to learn of the possibility of autism when her ped flagged her for a speech delay at 18 months and we had her evaluated through ECI. We did not receive the diagnosis until this past December, just before her third b-day.
I was unaware of the significance of her "atypicalities" when she was a baby. She was my first and is a twin (her sis is NT), and in the insanity of caring for two infants, I just didn't read anything into her behavior. I thought it was just her personality. I have some regets about that now, not that it may have made any difference.