Proud Parents of an Honor Roll Student

My experience as a teacher tells me that every parent thinks his or her child is the smartest one in the class. Of course, I hate to lump myself into that category and I certainly don't want to brag....However, Anna is well on her way to earning us a bumper sticker shouting the title of this blog post.

A few days ago, as Anna was swinging with her baby doll, I asked her what the doll's name was. As usual, she replied, "Dolly." Once again I tried to explain to her that her doll could have a name just like she has a name. I asked her, "what is your whole name?" She said, "Anna Gabrielle Zumbiel, Z-U-M." I was shocked. I have made an effort to teach her how to spell Anna (I think it's quite easy being that it's only two letters to learn - for those of you who didn't know :), but we have definitely never worked on spelling Zumbiel. Many phone conversations of me spelling our last name for doctors or phone orders or billing inquiries flashed in my head. This little girl listens to everything. This little girl listens to EVERYTHING!? (hmmm...time to start censoring for sure...)

While Anna was swinging, I went ahead and encouraged her to say her name again and this time I just completed the spelling of our name for her. I didn't really emphasize it, but just let her know there were more letters. We went upstairs, went back inside, and she went to sleep for her nap. Later that evening when Matt came home, I told her to tell Daddy her name. THIS time, our little college scholarship earner said, "Anna Zumbiel, Z-U-M-B-I-E-L." AND the crazy part was that she remembered it from hours earlier. When she says it, the last few letters blend together, but she definitely spells it.

Aren't little baby brains the most amazing things?! It is so incredible to watch them just take it all in. It's wonderful to hear or witness Anna or Megan achieve something, but the best part is probably watching them feel so proud of themselves. I'm sure I'll experience the same proud feeling when I put the bumper sticker on my car one day :)