Nicholas is in the 5th grade. 10 years old. Just wanted to state that. :)
He constantly amazes me with the bright light that he is..shining in so many ways, of which one is just his joy for life, passion and enthusiasm.
(<--- He is in the long sleeved green shirt right there). Two nights ago, as we were studying words for the spelling bee, we started having fun with some of the words like wisenheimer, wentletrap and whiffletree. He said, "You know that movie called bed knobs and broom sticks, well we can start using the term "Wentletraps and Whiffletrees!" And so we have. We were happy to find out that I can now call my children wisenheimers when they mouth off, and we could never find zaddik in the dictionary at home, but online, we discovered that my wisenheimers would probably never be labeled 
as zaddiks.
Nick was just so precious at the bee. Excited, nervous. The first thing he did was look for the boy he had befriended at the regional bee, who also made the finals and would be at the district bee. You would have thought they were best friends as they reveled in their nervousness and quizzed each other on a few more words.
His friend and him were only two chairs apart in the line up. And when Michael would spell a word correctly Nick would whisper a triumphant YES!! with his fist raised in the air. Quite my little noble man!
Nicks first time at the microphone, he was so happy and excited he jumped too close, bopped it almost over, righted himself with an excuse me, which brought a laughing response cutting the tension in the room for everyone. He was so passionate and joyous each time he spelled a word correctly, that the whole audience was in smiles! It can be a very intense and serious business, what a blessing he was to bring some joy and fun to the event.
Competing with 5th through 8th graders, and being one of a small handful of 5th graders there, I was so proud of him. Each time he came to the mike, I would cringe inside...hold my breath and then YES! he got it! Grins and triumph has he hopped back to his seat full of drama.
As the rounds progressed and children unfortunately dropped out (I HATE THAT PART!!!! I WANT TO GO HUG ALL OF THEM! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE A COMPETITION AGAINST EACH OTHER!?)... Nick and Michael ended up sitting right next to each other.
Nicholas actually had to spell the word wisenheimer...and he did so correctly. When they were on the second round of 8th grade difficult level words, his friend Michael went before him. Michael misspelled a very tough word. As he left the line-up, Nick's face crumpled with sadness for his friend...but he was up and had no time to recover. At his turn, my dear, sweet, smart 5th grader, missed a very challenging word. He bravely walked back to sit by me, leaned his head on my shoulder with tear-filled eyes. My heart ached... He did so good, but I know with the dream of Nationals and Washington DC within your grasp, that is hard to understand.
He ended up in 12th place....although children spelling right after him dropped out as well... So close, (the top 4 go)....he told me it was hard to focus on his last word, because he was upset about Michael.
The word that stumped him? Mnemonic. Would have stumped me too!
I am so proud of my man. God has given him talents in so many areas and he is a shining light in his love for life and open heart to God. I love you Nicholas. You make your momma proud.
Here is a picture of him from last week, with his MIP trophy from basketball.
whiffletree: the pivoted swinging bar to which the traces of a harness are fastened and by which a vehicle or implement is drawn
1 Things Others Said:
WAY TO GO !!!! Great job using your God given talent.
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