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‘They made us a family and I’m beyond proud’ Christine McGuinness marks twins 7th birthday with sweet photo slideshow

Selina Maycock Selina Maycock
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    • Christine McGuinness has expressed her pride over her first-born twins as they celebrate their 7th birthday.

    It’s no secret, Christine and Paddy McGuinness haven’t had the easiest start to parenting after their twins Leo and Penelope were diagnosed with autism. But that hasn’t stopped them from giving them the most love and encouragement and it has definitely paid off.

    To mark the youngsters turning seven, Christine compiled a sweet video slideshow of all their photos and clips, from her pregnancy and the birth and every step since.

    READ MORE: ‘Well done Leo!’ Christine McGuinness reveals pride of son’s milestone achievement

    She captioned the clip, ‘Happy 7th birthday to my beautiful twins Leo & Penelope my superstars. They have barely spent a moment apart since the day they were born, I’m so thankful they have each other. I am truly blessed to be their mummy. Feeling unconditional love is magical. They made me a mummy, they made us a family ❤️ and I am beyond proud.’

    READ MORE: Christine McGuinness admits she and husband Paddy McGuinness ‘struggling’ as all three kids diagnosed with autism

    View this post on Instagram

    ⠀ Back to basics ❤️ ⠀ I have used PECS (picture exchange community system) and visuals with all of my children since they were 3 years old to help bring on their speech, encourage communication and to help them understand our conversations. The twins were non verbal till age 4. They were using simple sentences aged 5 and now they’re almost 7 and never shut up! 🙌😍😁 ⠀ With so many changes going on recently we have gone back to using visuals as all 3 children are struggling in different ways. It has really helped even though they are verbal now, a visual symbol just makes sense to them especially when trying to understand something new. This is Penelope at school being supported to understand the ‘2 meter distance’. 💖 They are only doing a couple of hrs and only in a class with 2 other children. The start of the week was 👎 but since bringing back visuals it’s ended 👍👍👍 ⠀ I’m not seeing this as a set back as we very rarely used PECS before lockdown. I’m seeing this as a “sometimes you have to step back in order to move forward” 😊 ⠀ I believe in my babies so much 💪 I’m behind them 100% 🙌 I know they will bounce back stronger than ever ❤️ ⠀ ⠀ #Autism #AutismAwareness #SALT #regression #PECS #echolalia

    A post shared by Christine McGuinness (@mrscmcguinness) on

    Christine added, ‘I LOVE YOU to the moon and back forever and always my babies you are everything to me.’

    READ MORE: Christine McGuinness feeling ‘anxious’ as three autistic children head back to school

    The slideshow is accompanied by her kids’ favourite song – What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong – as dad Paddy shared a sweet clip of their youngest daughter, Felicity, three, who was also diagnosed with autism, singing it from their pram during a daily walk.

    He wrote, ‘I know how hard being a parent can be but children are so innocent and pure. It’s these moments that are so special. Here’s my 3 year old daughter Felicity. It’s raining, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic and the News seems to get worse everyday, yet here she is, singing about how wonderful the world is. Thank you baby girl, I hope and pray you’ll still be singing this song, with all your friends, in years to come. #daddysgirl #staysafe’