Finishing First Grade in an Awesome Way

This is what a combination of hard-working and awesomeness looks like.

Let me tell you a little story about our Micah.  Last year at the end of kindergarten, we came to see Micah get an award.  And it turns out that he didn't get one.  He got one mark in one area of behavior in one nine weeks.  And that one little mark cost him one little medal.  It's a citizenship medal that celebrates character and good choices, and in his school you have to make it all year without even one negative mark in behavior in order to get one.

But his kindergarten teacher was so encouraging.  She spoke with him that morning one year ago and told him that she knew he could do it next year, and that he should work really hard and that she would be encouraging him on.  She told him that she would watch for him throughout the year and that she wanted to see him on the stage at the end of first grade.

Micah worked so hard all year.  This is a boy who has a lot of extra energy, and he has to work really hard to settle himself down sometimes.  He gets excited really easily and has had to learn how to control his enthusiasm.  When he had bad days, we talked at home about his goal of being on that stage at the end of the year, and how all of his hard work would be worth the effort. It wasn't always an easy battle, but he fought it all year.

Today, he won.

He was sooo proud of himself.

And if that great achievement wasn't enough, our boy also put his brains to work this year.  In order to qualify for academic excellence, children had to earn perfect "E"s (Excellent - they don't do "A", "B", and "C" until middle school, I think) in every subject during the second semester.  Micah actually did it all year, so he over-qualified for the academic award, and got to go up on stage a second time to accept that one.

These kids were so proud of themselves and so excited to have earned the trophies for their hard work.  I learned later from the teacher that they were also peppering her with questions about whether the trophies were made of gold or platinum, which could explain why they're all mesmerized by them in this picture.  Sorry kids - just good ol' plastic on a marble base.:)

Micah, we are so proud of you.  You worked so hard and whether or not you go the award was never what was important to us.  It was how hard you tried and how you kept your goal in mind and how you persevered even when it would have been easy to stop caring and just give up.

Congratulations, Micah-man.  We love you, awards or not, achievements or not, and we love who you are becoming.  Never stop being you because you are just plain awesome.