100 days.

100 days of kindergarten. She's an old pro now. We were reading together last night and I realized how grown up she has become these last 100 days. In those 100 days she has learned how to read. I always think that's kind of a miracle. Think of the worlds that will open up to her. The characters she will discover. The words that will intrigue and delight her. The lessons she will learn. It's exciting.

In those hundred days she has learned independence. She walks through those doors and knows where to go and what to do. There are expectations. She follows the rules and she learns. She makes new friends and has conversations and navigates her own way. Without me or her brothers there to hold her hand. She does it all.

In those hundred days she has learned confidence. She is smart. She believes that. She can read and write and count and learn. It's empowering. She has never lacked confidence, but this is a different flavor. It's more than knowing she's cute. It's knowing she can do things she's never done before. It's making decisions and trying her best and seeing success.

In those hundred days she has learned responsibility. She has homework to do and books to read and sight words to memorize. She wants to do it. She wants to please her teacher and put her check mark on the paper and learn. She wants to be better than she is right now. And she knows those worksheets will get her there.

These are big lessons for a kindergartner to learn. They are big lessons for anyone. But in 100 days, she has come so far, learned so many new things. It's exciting and inspiring and so fun to watch her world open up and see her jump right in.