District Spelling Bee

Well, thank goodness, the list we had been studying from for the past 2 months was the one they used at the District Spelling Bee. Jack was well-prepared, and hung in for 19 rounds! He was a spelling machine and even got the word hosta correct (which was one of the words he struggled with during our studies, always wanting to put an A instead of an O in it!) When it was down to just 3 contestants left, the girls were all giddy with excitement because they knew the top 3 places all got to go home with a trophy in addition to the plaque and medal that everyone got. The word he got stumped on was ERRAND, but unfortunately, Jack didn't hear it correctly, asked for it to be repeated, but still was uncertain. He did ask for a definition, which I'm afraid did NOT help at all. They opened up this dictionary that was as big as 2 or 3 Chicago phone books put together. The definition they read made absolutely no sense...I wanted to yell out, "What does your mom have to run at least a dozen times every week?" But I restrained myself. He thought the word was Erin, and spelled it like that, a girl's name, even though he knew it wasn't right. I'm so proud though, that he accepted his 3rd place finish with grace. I think he should have won the whole thing, as does his teacher, the assistant principal, and everyone else who was there to cheer him on!!! What an incredible achievement though, and he's just in 5th grade. We're looking forward to 3 more years of spelling bees for Jack!