Grand Prize! Major Award!!

Bridget came home from school yesterday and handed me an envelope on her way inside to change for dance class.  "MAMA!!  I WON $16!!  IT'S A GRAND PRIZE!!"  I took the envelope (the boys and I were in the van, ready to drive her to dance class) and read that it was $60, not $16 and she gets to pick out a grand prize at Walmart (her choice of a bike, a scooter, or an iPod shuffle).  Pretty cool, I thought.  As we drove to dance, I asked some important find out questions:

Me: So how many kids got the prize?

Bridget: Just me and one other girl.  I can't remember her name.

Me: You don't know one of the girls in your class?

Bridget:  She's not in my class.  I don't know what grade she's in.

We went on like that for a while.  I finally gathered that this was a school-wide assembly and that Bridget and one other kid won the grand prize.  I'm so proud that I am on the verge of Olympic tears when I talk about it.  

See, Bridget didn't start first grade on top - she tested one point below where she needed to be in reading, so her teacher had her go to Reading Recovery (one-on-one for half an hour every day with a specially trained reading teacher, Mrs. Packard).  After a few months of Reading Recovery, Bridget was invited to participate in an early morning reading/writing class with a handful of other kids.  I thought that was overkill, given that Brian and I read with Bridget every night for at least 20 minutes.  But!  I didn't want to be the kind that doesn't give my child every minute of help she can get.  So Bridget got up an hour earlier three times a week and went to school.  Always with a smile on her face.  That's the thing about my girl, she works hard.  She told me several times that she wants to be one of the "smart kids."  (My heart breaks every time I even think about that.  She IS one of the smart kids!)  In fact, Bridget has only missed school two times this whole year - once because she broke her collar bone and once to go to Take Your Daughter to Work Day with her Daddy.  

Bridget has started reading like a champion.  She has also started writing stories in her notebook.  Some are so long that they have chapters. :)  Anyway, I wanted her to have a record of this.  Bridget, you did something really difficult and you had a happy attitude through the whole thing.  I'm so proud of you!!  Thank you for being an example to me and your Daddy.