Spelling Season

It's spelling bee season again at the kids' school.  Jacob was apparently the first to sign up and arrived home with his spelling duotang some time last week.  He gave the duotang to his twin who dutifully quizzed him, taking great pleasure in any mistakes.  Unbeknownst to his female twin, the quizzing of her brother has been of great benefit to her own spelling.  This benefit is of such effect that her own spelling prowess has begun to emerge - much to her chagrin.   Her mother and father happened to notice that her i's are now coming before e's as are her q's regularly accompanied by u's.  Thus, she has been challenged to enter the spelling bee herself and give her womb-mate a run for his money.  Much to our delight, she rose to the challenge and signed up today for an occasion that she would much rather avoid - sort of.  She might rather sit on the sideline but she also has a fire in her eye that would see her spelling "distinguish" alongside her twin.

Thus, today, as we drove the hour's drive to Renfrew for a doctor's appointment, I was passed the spelling duotang and instructed to quiz Jacob and Hannah on all words from A-R.  They did quite well - as did their younger brothers who quietly listened in a state of semi- and almost complete illiteracy.  It was around S that Benjamin and Joseph began to grow restless and demand their own spelling bee.  Dave tossed back a few words for Ben:  and, to, Ben, I and a.  He proudly spelled them only stopping when he was given "Sam" which he had decided was beyond him.

Then it was Joe's turn.  Joe is still functionally illiterate.  However, after today's spelling bee, I have high hopes for him.  We gave him words like "Joseph" and "dog" which he spelled by naming off any letters that came to mind.  We would all yell, "Correct!" and move on to the next word.  And then I made my mistake.  I yelled out, "Mommy!"  He, I kid you not, responded:  "Mommy. H-I-P-S.  Mommy."  Watch out for this boy, I have no idea what will become of him.