Tuesday, June 14, 2011

It's cool to be a winner!

Monkey came home from school and said, “Mommy! Guess what? I have something exciting to tell you!” He had a huge smile on his face and I can’t remember the last time that he seemed so happy when he got home from school. I replied, “Come into the house and tell me all about it!”

It wasn't all that long ago that I could barely get Monkey to tell me anything spontaneously. Sometimes it would take a very long time, with me methodically and systematically prying information out of him, just to learn a few minor details about his day. He has been making great strides, but we still have our struggles. So for him to burst through the door like he did with a beaming grin and words happily spilling out of his mouth was truly wonderful.
“We had the second grade spelling bee today!”
Last week they had individual classroom spelling competitions and Monkey came in second place in his class. This week they brought all of the top 2 spellers from each class in the second grade together for a spelling bee.
“I won!”
“You won? Tell me everything!”
“Well, we had our spelling bee today and I won!”
“What? Really? You won? That’s fantastic! I’m so proud of you! Are you proud of yourself?”
“Yes! It’s cool to be a winner!”
He proceeded to tell me more about the contest, the competitors, what order they placed, and even some of the words they misspelled. As I listened to him talking I was impressed by his confidence. It brought me back to how happy he was when he was performing in the second grade play.
During the play he rocked out to the music with no fear. This was a huge surprise because neither my husband nor I ever see him dance or express himself musically when he’s at home with us. It was so awesome to watch him in the play just having lots of fun with no concern whatsoever for the audience.
I imagined him spelling in front of his classmates with ease. I asked him if he liked to talk in front of other people and he agreed exuberantly. We talked about his play and how much he liked to say his lines into the microphone and dance in front of the audience. He told me that he doesn’t get nervous and wanted to get in front of people and do more spelling and performing.
I’m so happy for his victory today. It gives me much hope for him in the future.
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