Photo-A-Day #4271

Today was a big day for Andrew. first he had his Christmas program at school. He and the other children have been working on special Christmas songs to sing for their families. Andrew had Allison and I there along with my parents. He was all sorts of dapper in his collared shirt, sweater and Finding Dory themed bow tie. Bow Ties are his thing, he loves wearing them. He and his classmates sang a number of songs and they were adorable. After the songs we were presented with a gift that he made for us. He made a special ornament using his fingerprints. He also made a couple of foam ornaments as well. Then we had cake for Jesus’ birthday and headed home.

In the afternoon Allison and Eva returned home and they brought along Uncle Jim. We then went over to America’s Best Defense in Mansfield for Andrew’s graduation. Andrew is part of the Little Dragons group there and he has been working at the school since the end of the Summer. He went one day for Buddy Week as a guest of our friend’s, The McCanns. While they were not there that day, we have been going together on the same days ever since. One of the kids graduated with Andrew and she moved up to her Orange belt. Her older brother moved up to Green belt in the Karate Kids class.

At the start of the graduation Andrew was probably the worst behaved he has ever been in class. Distracting the other kids, not sitting still and not focusing at all. All three instructors had to say something to him and I was stressing out. I take his behaviour to heart whenever he is acting out. Did I get him enough sleep? What is causing this to happen? I don’t know and I am one who doesn’t like getting in trouble and so I am uncomfortable when the kids get in trouble. Andrew needs movement for his focus. He has a really hard time being quiet and focused. That will come, in time. When the class began to do their demonstrations then he got focused. He loves doing his blocks and other movements. Punches and kicks and the whole form that he has learned is something that he can get behind doing. So, I breathed a little easier when he was actually doing his forms, and then held my breath as the other groups, the yellow and orange belts did their forms.

When he actually received his belt the Senseis and Instructor invited parents to come out on the mat with the kids. We sat behind the kids and a ceremony took place. It was a really nice ceremony and I appreciated being a part of it. I talk more about it in today’s video.