spelling bees

andrew has quickly become a star in his kindergarten class. last week he beat out the other kids in order to participate in the math bowl where he continued to shut down the competition until a question (which was quite ambiguous if you ask me) actually stumped him. heartbreaking as it was to watch my little friend leave the stage, my proud mom heart swelled up in my chest as i realized he had lasted over half way through the competition. today, the spelling bee. now, mind you, this is kindergarten and they were spelling very hard words that i never even used in kindergarten! not the kindergarten i attended! needless to say, eric and i sat on the bleachers, hearts racing, palms sweating as we watched this little boy of ours take his place in front of the microphone and spell some amazing words. we were definitely more nervous for him than he ever was. this morning as we were practicing he mater of factly stated, "mom, i don't need to practice, i know all of this already." true to form the child did know it all and performed amazingly. he outlasted over half the group and made it into the top 6 kids out of the 18 who participated. once again, my heart was full of that mom pride we all get when we see our child succeed. it was great to see him so excited. he realized he placed much higher than the math bowl and had a big grin on his face the rest of the bee. what a cute, smart, drive me crazy boy i have. wouldn't trade him for the world.