Academic Athlete

Today Keagan was awarded seven awards at the kindergarten awards assembly. He won the top prize having earned the most AR points of any kinder student and was given a medal to wear and a gift card to Wal-Mart. This afternoon, though, with his little hands struggling to hold all of his certificates, medals and gift cards, he pulled out the most precious certificate and said, "Mom, this is my favorite award of all." You know which one he pulled out?

The Physical Education Award

So while I was sweating bullets in the audience wondering if Keagan would earn more points than the cute little blond girl in the uniform skirt and the ponytail, while I was a nervous wreck wondering if he took the last AR test before the cut-off, and while I crossed my fingers hoping that all of the shouts of "YOU WILL READ FOR 20 MINUTES TONIGHT WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! would pay off in the end, Keagan was willing to call it a day and leave with his PE award.

When his name was called, I was so thrilled for him, that I shed a tear. For so long I have worried that he would never meet the academic expectations of his big brother. I worried that he would always live in his shadow, and for Keagan to win this award, proves so much more than he can read and read well. While I basked in his success, my little boy was thinking of only one thing.

"Where's Coach? I want to thank him for my PE award."