Here's an example of what we had to put up with.

It's impossible to keep the house tidy! When we put things back to their places, Alex will start building another line. He calls them train tracks.

His quirkiness due to autism is getting more apparent each day. He used to line his toys in rows but now, he will line anything that he sees, not just toys (as you can see in the video) but books, towel and practically anything that is on his way.

Unlike many children with autism, he allows us to move his stuff and not even make a fuss. When Sam, another EarlyBird trainer came to see us, she saw Alex's row of toys and tread very slowly, afraid that she might mess them up. I told her that it's OK, Alex doesn't mind.

She said it's really good that Alex is flexible, she has seen many children and they will throw a huge tantrum just because one of their toys are out of place.

I supposed his flexibility is due to our not giving in too much to him. We will allow occasional tantrums but once he cross the line, we will tell him "it's enough" and he will stop immediately. We love Alex to bits but we don't mollycoddle him too much but then again what is enough and too much? We'll just have to follow our instincts.

Two days ago, Alex decided that a Satsuma is a "train" and he pushed it around his "Thomas the Tank tracks". The end result, orange peel and juice all over the tracks and carpet - that gave me a very good reason to clean his toys.

Now that's what I call influencing someone to do things!