One fun thing about the giant age gap between the girls is that generally I've recovered from all the trauma Alexis caused me at a particular age by the time Mila tries to relive that trauma. They're ridiculously different in every way, but EVERY PRESCHOOLER IS INSANE, I TELL YOU.
Ahem.
You probably could have guessed this, but I am terrible at consoling the parents of 3 and 4-year olds. They want to go on about how their kid can't possibly be more difficult and next year is going to be so much better and blah, blah, blah. Kids are always hard, but give me a little kid tantrum over the crap teens bring home any day of the week. I can pick up a kid throwing a tantrum and remove her from the situation. A teen in the midst of something ugly can't just be picked up and redirected. That doesn't mean the preschooler isn't insane; she is. Definitely. I just have coping mechanisms that work with her brand of insane.
The fact that I have coping mechanisms came to me recently because there's a kid Mila knows who is ZOMG SO SHY. She struggles to participate in stuff like basketball or dance or whatever because she wants to stay glued to her mom. She sobs uncontrollably at daycare drop-off and generally would just like to be a leech attached to her mom at all times.
Sound familiar?
I ALREADY BEAT THAT!
Mila has brief moments of getting overwhelmed and not knowing how to cope, but Alexis at that age was OVERWHELMED. Every minute of every day was hard for her because while she wanted to participate and do the things her friends were doing, the world was scary. See also: she would still not have been born given the choice. She was quite content permanently attached to me, thank you very much.
But while Alexis was crippled by shyness when she was little, now she's not. She functions just fine in the world and will even walk up to a total stranger and start a conversation. It took work to get her there, and a whole lot of patience, but as I watch parents of a 3-year go through the exact same battle, I can't help but get just a little bit happy because I'm on the other side of that.
Phew.
At least there's one thing I got right with Alexis. It may be the only thing, but at least it's something.
