And I joke a lot about what it is like living with her. Because often, living with her can be a lot. If you’ve ever seen RENT, there’s a scene with the character Maureen who is protesting by putting on a theatrical spoken word performance called Over the Moon, and by the end of the scene, she has the entire crowd “Moo-ing” like cows with her: that is Pearl.
She is a dynamic ball of energy and excitement, one whose passion revolves around doing what is right while having a blast! I have never known anyone quite like her. It is altogether exciting and exhausting being in charge of this tiny amazing human, and we are so grateful and so happy she is 7!
Pearl has accomplished a lot this year and has displayed that she really has grown into a first grader. At the start of last year I wrote about how she would get off the bus (she loves riding it!) and sulk or run to the front door-it was one or the other. I knew it was a good or bad day based on the way she exited the bus. If she was sulking, she thought she did something terribly wrong and had to confess. If she was running, she probably did do something actually wrong and didn’t want to tell me. This is the dichotomy that is Pearl.
Now she gets off the bus and walks up to the door, unless she sees a sibling waiting for her-that is when she runs now. She always runs into their arms and it is beautiful to see. I am happy that I don’t get a full confession every day anymore-it shows that she is beginning to self monitor and understand that every mistake is not necessarily a bad thing or deserves punishment. The interesting one for awhile was: “Mom, I stuck up my middle finger but it was on accident.” I haven’t hear that one in a long time, so victory! This child tests her boundaries daily-it is something I often fear, but something I do know will help her to take the necessary risks in the future.
The risks we have observed this year are wide. She began walking to her friend’s house and coming home at the correct time without a call or a visit from an older sibling. She rode her bike around the block, and got a hoverboard for Christmas to do the same. She rode her very first rollercoaster-and then did it over and over and over again. She acted in two plays through DCER. She has been asked to join the next level at gymnastics so she is practicing aerials and kick overs rather than her routine cartwheel. She is scoring top notch on standardized tests but we all know those suck regardless, her scores were off the chains though. And she is exuding patience with Isla and Leo that we haven’t seen much in the past. She is listening and understanding that no means no, no matter who says it. She is respecting more of her space and others.
Pearl is blooming before us. We didn’t think this child could become any more fierce and bold than we have experienced thus far, but sometimes we just look at each other across the dinner table and shake our heads, smiling. We don’t know what she will become but to us, she will always be “moo-ing” on her home stage in the living room, trying to get us all to moo along with her. And we will.
