Crazy Beautiful Sprite

This girl is crazy.  Crazy in the best possible way, of course.  She's fun and mischievious.  If you visit this site often, you know that I call my kids sprites.  This third child started that.  They are all sprite-like, but she may actually be a sprite.  She's my wild child and yet she's one of the sweetest girls you'll ever meet.  She loves hugs and cuddling and she can write a thank you letter that will bring you to tears. She's a paradox wrapped up in pretty pink bow.  She's the kind of kid who can make you smile right after she breaks your antique crystal vase.  I love her for it, but she's a mess.  A beautiful mess with a lot of energy.

My answer for all of that energy is to keep her in the gym as many days as I can afford.  Luckily, she's more than alright with that.  She loves being at the gym.  Part of it for her is the challenge.  The girl is a born athlete.  She's strong.  She's has more upper body strength at seven than I think I've ever had.  She can fall into a full split in less than three seconds.  And she can pirouette on the balance beam as if she was born walking on her toes.  The other part of her love for the gym is the chance to show off.  She takes full advantage of her position as the baby of the family and expects that all eyes are on her, all of the time.  She knows that when she walks out on the mat she's better than all of us at what she's about to do.  That makes her sound arrogant.  And maybe she is, a little, we're working on that.  But the thing is, she isn't like this all of the time.  Just like Analiese finds her confidence on stage, Sicily finds her confidence in the gym.  So when she comes home crying because someone made fun of her on the playground, I remind her of how amazing she is and then we go to the gym where she can prove it.  When she can't figure out her homework, I tell her to do a few cartwheels and then read upside down.  And she does and everything makes sense.  Really.  The girl reads upside down sometimes.  I told you she was crazy.  But I wouldn't want her to be any other way.  She's a crazy beautiful sprite.  Just the thought of her makes me smile.  My beautiful little mess.