Let's take a minute and just sit with this thought: Alexis is in middle school now.
I blinked, I guess. I could swear we were just standing in front of that brown door with a sign that said "kindergarten."
It's next to impossible to believe that's the same kid in both photos, not because she looks different, but because she's such a different person. Kindergarten Alexis was defined by her shyness, need for perfection, and an almost crippling sense of empathy. The shyness is gone, but the perfection and empathy things remain. Except, they're different now.
While Alexis used to worry endlessly about other people's feelings and thoughts (to the point that she wouldn't go to a birthday party because the person might not like the gift she brought), she seems to have figured out how to channel that into positive things. She spots injustices at the speed of light these days and goes out of her way to make sure she's fair to people. but she is far better about creating a line in the sand. She doesn't take on their feelings anywhere near as often. She understands their feelings rather than borrowing them. It's a good thing.
That perfection thing, though. I didn't think we would ever overcome that "I have to be perfect at everything" thing. Last year the lowest grade Alexis got on her report card was a 97% and she was SO SAD about it. She wanted a 100% and she lost sleep over not getting it. Which, the fallout of that led to me focusing on the topic and working super hard to overcome it. See also: competitive cheer.
See also also: I have my answer as to whether or not that whole championship thing undermined my "Have fun being bad!" efforts.
I happened to show up at the exact right moment during Alexis' tumbling class this week. I pulled out my phone and took video of a bunch of halves and fulls because Alexis loves videos of herself tumbling. Mostly she tears them apart and tells me the 235835731 ways she screwed up, but I have convinced myself that it's healthy to look for ways to improve. I have 13 (no exaggeration) videos of Alexis perfectly landing a tumbling run.
And I have 1 video of her blowing the same tumbling sequence. And by "blowing" I mean she landed on her face and it was amaaaaaaazing. Mila and I were doubled over with laughter when we saw it happen.
That mistake is the type of mistake that Kindergarten Alexis would have used as an excuse to quit. Right then and there. After falling on her face, Kindergarten Alexis would have crawled into a hole and cried for days. Sixth Grade Alexis, though. Sixth Grade Alexis rushed to post the blooper to Instagram because "it's sooo funny, mom."
The kid is a totally different beast at this point. It's pretty great.