Tyler & James

Identical in looks but not in personality that is part of the struggle when raising twins. Tyler is independent, a bit secretive and hard to read at times. James is independent at times, an open book and very inquisitive. So raising them has been interesting to say the least.

Both are very intelligent, have dyslexia and ADHD. They are honors students who have learned to adapt to their learning disabilities. They are no longer on medicine for ADHD and have not been since freshmen year. Learning in the early years was a huge struggle but they have overcame and excelled through the years. (I will eventually write an entry on their diagnosis and all that came of it.) Both are athletic but in different sports. Tyler played basketball but currently is running distance in both cross country and track. He has recently started pole vaulting. James is a competitive swimmer and has been competing since he was 8 years old. They are both artistic(I am an artist and art teacher) they both prefer working in 3D than 2D. They are both mechanical (Kyle is a mechanic). Those are the items they have in common.

Tyler (baby A) has a hard time staying with one passion. I think maybe it is his ADHD but he switches sports etc. and has not found anything he truly loves. Ty started in football, played t-ball, soccer, basketball and the track/running is fairly new. Some of his change has come from injuries (he has knee problems from rapid growth-currently 6 foot 3) and the football/basketball caused him a lot of pain. He has had some trouble with running also with pain, he had snapping hip syndrome where the tendon is so tight over the hip that it snaps. He has learned to stretch and fix it so it is better. Basketball was his passion for many years however he ended up with a bad coach who shot his self confidence down and he just could not get past that. My biggest regret is that I did not pull him from the team when I saw what was happening. We told him to keep pushing and working and that it would get better. It did not and only got worse. My biggest advice to parents is your child's well being comes first and if in your gut you know it is not good don't keep pushing. Go with your gut!

Tyler does well in school he currently has a 3.45 GPA with a weighted GPA of 4.04. He is the kind of student who does what needs to be done but nothing extra. He makes me crazy at times because he is happy with an 89 and I am like Tyler it could be a 90 with just a bit more work. He is definitely a leader personality who does exactly what he wants without any thoughts to what others will think. He is one to stick up for the little guy which is one of the things I love most about him. He is more social than James, he has a girlfriend, many different friends from different social groups. He sees past the social classifications and gets to know people for themselves. Ty is more into clothing, shoes and definitely his hair than his twin brother.

James (Baby B) found his passion at the age of eight and hasn't stopped since. He is truly an "Aqua Man" and would rather be swimming that anything else. This year his improvement in the sport has been tremendous, he consistently has dropped his times in his mid and distance swimming events. He went to Junior Nationals in Orlando this year and will go to Tempe Arizona May 5th to compete in the Junior National Open Water Swim Championships. He also competed in the Florida State High School Championships where he ended up 13th in the 500 Free. He has a drive that amazes me, he pushes himself every day and has serious goals that are beginning to take shape. Some days he is up at 3:45 AM to get to swim practice before school, some days he has doubles and swims again after school. He swims Monday-Saturday year round. JT as he is called by his coach is not a team sport player. He is very opinionated and is not afraid to speak up for himself. I got him into swimming because in the team sport arena he just could not mesh with the other players.

In school James is just as driven. He has a 3.83 GPA and a weighted GPA of 4.41. He has his sights set on becoming a surgeon. He studies constantly and reads anything and everything he can find. He is the kind of students who is very hard on himself he absolutely hates getting any grade lower than an A and even then if it is not a high A he gets upset. He is very high strung I have to constantly calm him down. JT also has a leader personality, he does not care what anyone thinks of him. He has a huge heart and will help anyone who needs it. He is not as social as Tyler. He has friends but just doesn't go out of his way to make more. He is a bit of a loner. James could care less about how he looks, he barely combs his hair and at times Tyler tells him to change his clothes.

As you can see I have my hands full trying to balance the two of them and their different personalities. The hardest part for me to balance is fairness. When two kids are so different and need different things how do you balance that without having one think you love the other more? That is the biggest struggle I go through on a daily basis.