Can I crow a little about Kamryn?

Kamryn is 8. She's been playing the piano since she was 5 although she started in a group class that was more focused on fun than real progress (which was what we were looking for at that point). She was ALWAYS ahead of her peers so much so that while we loved the program she was in and loved her teacher even more, I pulled her out this year from what would have been her last year and we moved to private lessons. Maya is following the curriculum of the Royal Conservatory of Music. A venerable institution that pretty much anyone who takes music lessons works with. There is a syllabus of music graded from grade 1 through 10. Completing grade 8 will get you a grade 12 high school music credit. It can be serious stuff. Maya and I started casually working on grade 1 last summer (very casually - it was summer break after all). She did her grade 1 exam in January and received first class honours with a grade of 87. She started working on grade two pieces at that point. She competed in a city-wide music festival last week, playing against kids that had likely been working on their pieces since September vice Kamryn's February. Many of the competitors were several years older than her; all of them performed incredibly. Their was this one child, an Asian boy about 8 years old (I must admit to a prejudice. When he entered the room initially – without ever having heard him play - I didn’t think Kamryn had a chance). He was wearing tails. He played beautifully. His dynamics stunned me. I thought he’d won it all. When they named him as the third place finisher I was certain Kamryn would receive a lovely “thanks for coming out” certificate. I was fine with that – I thought she’d done her best and I thought that is what she likely deserved. I was totally stunned when they called Kamryn's name as the second place finisher with a mark of 86. Then again, I knew every mistake she made because I had heard her piece played a gazillion and one times while remaining essentially clueless on her competitors’ pieces. Last night her piano teacher pulled me aside and suggested that we move on to grade 3 pieces because she really was done with grade 2 and to keep working on those pieces until an exam in August was pointless. So grade 3 here we come. At 8, I was still working on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Kamryn is wonderful; she rarely complains about practicing although she doesn't like to do it; she likes going to her lessons and she is super modest (that or clueless at how good she really is). When we went to the competition on Friday I was completely emotional (had to hold back tears before she played). The emotion hit me out of the blue and I really can't explain it (hadn’t felt that overwhelmed since her pre-school graduation) but I'm so immensely proud of her. Just had to brag a little. Thanks.