I had knee surgery last week, and have been out of work. On Monday, I volunteered in Berit's first grade classroom.

There's a part of me that wants Berit to be the smartest kid in her class, which she's not. See those 3 kids in the table in the corner? Yeah, those ones. They are the smart ones. Ridiculously smart. They're over there challenging each other with multiplication problems while the rest of the kids draw pictures of animals that add up to 12.

That's cool. Berit is SMART. I know she is. Last night she wanted to practice word problems, read two books to me, and wrote in her journal. In between, we stretched. She has often memorized entire Dr. Seuss books, and she was reading, speaking writing at an early age. And I am going to let go of this competitive idea that she needs to be the best. :)