Alexander is my 2nd son. He was born 12 months and 3 days after William. Almost Irish twins. I always joke with Alexander (or as we call him, Alex!) telling him that he literally came into the world smiling and has never stopped! He’s THAT kid that is always bringing laughter and joy and smiles and just a lot of love into our family. He loves to dance. He loves to climb walls. He loves to joke and tease and do pranks. He is just a ray of sunlight in the McClelland household, there’s no really other way for me to say it.

We got Alex in swimming 3 years ago because it was easy for us. William was swimming and we thought it would be fun to have them do something together. Not to mention, it’s a heck of a lot easier on us to have them doing the same sport.

Throughout the last 3 years, Alex has had fun at swimming. He hasn’t LOVED it, he’s liked it and it’s been something for him to do. He’s met a ton of friends. He’s with his brothers (we’ve got Ben and Henry swimming, too). He’s getting some great exercise. And he’s enjoying the swim meet weekends.

I’m going to be honest here, the one thing that I’ve always worried about with my Alex (and will do with Ben and Henry, too) is the comparing. William LOVES swimming. He just is obsessed with it and he’s super competitive with it and just doesn’t want to lose. He’s very driven when it comes to the pool. He takes practice seriously. He takes his swim meets seriously. It’s who he is and you know, I love that about William. It’s his passion.

It’s tough because when people see us at swim meets, the light usually shines towards William… “Oh, William! We saw your swim, GREAT job!” Now, as a mom… you don’t want to take away from a swim that William did, but you automatically think of your other kids, too… and for me, it’s usually Alex.

But here’s the thing with Alex, he’s William’s biggest fan. He’s cheering. He’s screaming. He’s excited. He’s just the best little brother.

And I love that.

But this past weekend, at our All Swimming Pool Meet in Rhode Island, our Alex stepped right out of the shadow. He had been doing the 25 freestyle races all summer and all winter long. I know Alex has had it in him to get a great time, but he just hadn’t been able to get below 16.81 seconds. The little guy just wanted to place at the All Pool Meet and get an award (they give them for top 8). At the All Pool Meet they have a Trials Day and a Finals Day. Trials is always on Saturday and Finals on Sunday. Alex dove into the water on Saturday and swam the race of his life, a 16.40. Best time ever! And the best part for him? He was seated 1st for the FINALS!!

If there was ever a kid happy, it was ALEX. It was like it was the Olympics for him. It was adorable. It was the first time Alex had ever really proven to himself that he had it in him to be “super fast”… and it was phenomenal to see.

That next morning Alex woke up and told me he wanted to wear (oh, yes…) a SPEEDO for his race. He told me, “I think this will be my superpower to win today.” My heart just melted. I thought, whatever it takes for this little guy, I’ll do.

I got his speedo and we were off to the meet!

Alex… HE CAME IN FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!

He came in first.

It made his life.

It MADE his life.

The other boys did phenomenal during the swim meet, but Alex was my little shining star. He just really dug deep and swam his little heart out. As my husband said to me, “It was his turn to shine!” We couldn’t have been prouder for him, he literally was speechless that he won and was so proud of HIMSELF.

It’s NOT about the winning… and I want to reiterate this. For my Alex, and for us, it was way beyond winning or getting best times. It was seeing our Alex believing in himself and just giving it his all. It made me SO proud.

Way to go, Alex!