Middle School Spelling Champ!!

After coming in second two years in a row (link), Beenie finally won the middle school spelling bee!!!!  I'm so excited and happy for him - especially because this means that he gets to compete in the Regional Spelling Bee, the winner of which gets to go to Washington, DC, for the big Scripps Spelling Bee finals!!!

However, that doesn't mean that I didn't have heart failure along the way.  Here's what happened:

The words he spelled:
  • calibration
  • examine
  • consonant
  • denominator
  • scruple
  • oblige
  • patience
  • palatable
At this point, it was down to a final group of three.  The other two spellers missed their words, and Beenie spelled (correctly):
  • enfranchise
Now, by the rules of the spelling bee, he had to spell one more "championship" word to win.  His word was:
  •  circuitous
and, he missed it. So, what that means is that all the spellers from the previous round come back, and we do it again.  The two others missed their words, and Beenie spelled (correctly):
  •  omniscient
Then, for the championship word:
  • analgesia
And, he missed it again. So, we did it one more time. The other two missed their words, and Beenie spelled (correctly):
  • vengeance
Then for the championship word:
  • photosynthesis
And, he got it!!!  I was an absolute nervous wreck during the championship word rounds.  I'm sure I was more nervous than he was - or at least than he appeared to be.

So, he got a big honkin' trophy, and he's on his way to the regionals in a month!