“To round it all out, Alexi made 8”
Alexi is 15 years old now. When my husband and I started dating, Alexi was less than two years old. The first time I met Alexi my future mother in law was holding him in her arms. I walked over with Mel so he could introduce me to his mom when suddenly Alexi flopped over into my arms! It was so unexpected that I almost toppled over trying not to drop him! Mel's mom was speechless! Mel was pretty shocked too as Alexi was very shy around strangers. The rest of the week Alexi was attached at the hip to me. Well whatever hip was left after Jess and Chris got done fighting over it!
I honestly do not remember Alexi not ever being in my life; his sweet spirit, shy smile and loving nature. When Mel and I got married Alexi was surrounded by older brothers who catered to his every whim. They played with him, read to him and loved him unconditionally. With so much pampering you would think he would have gotten a little spoiled. Yet his mellow disposition was always the norm.
After Jess moved in to live with us, Alexi started having challenges in school. Eventually he came to live with us as well when he was in the fifth grade. Once he got into a routine at our house he quickly became his old mellow self.
Alexi has an amazing way of analyzing things at times. I think he gets that from his dad. From a very young age he could take deep worldly concepts and explain them in the simplest, child-like ways. The funny thing is I do not think he realized how big of a deal what he was doing was!
Alexi is a gifted athlete as well. When he was small I would take him to the soccer field with me while I helped coach the girls soccer team at Lowell Catholic. They made him the official team mascot/ball boy. The reason I mention this is because a couple of years later he decided he wanted to try to play soccer on his school's team. I encouraged him but by the same token told him not to get frustrated if the other boys were better since they had been playing longer. When I tell you, I almost had to get picked up off the floor when he scored in his first game, is to put it mildly. It was almost like he had absorbed everything he had seen all those years, "Matrix-Style".
By the time he graduated middle school he was tied for the most goals scored in the season. This was amazing on its own, but he did this while only playing offense for half of the game! The other half he either played defense or goal. During his middle school years he was on championship soccer, baseball and basketball teams. He got various awards including the outstanding player of the year award. Academically he was not straight A's but he held his own as well as having perfect attendance. He also received a technology award because the kid is a computer Whiz!
Alexi has been struggling lately to overcome some emotional burdens from his past that he is now trying to work through. It is painful to see him have to deal with these issues at such a young age. Luckily we have a great line of communication so he has someone to help him work thorough it.
Alexi is a freshman in high school now. He played soccer, basketball and is hoping to play baseball this spring.
He has not decided what he wants to be but he does know he wants to go to Arizona for college.
I cannot begin to express how blessed I feel to have the opportunity to have this great kid in my life. I also know that he is another one that will do awesome in whatever he decided to do!
And no matter how old he gets, he will always be my cute little Alexi!
