The Good: My son is amazing. He sat still (and I mean STILL) for about 10 minutes during a belt ceremony today at Taekwondo, earning himself a sticker from Master Johnny and some praise words to "look at Dylan - do you see how still he's sitting! He hasn't even moved!" My jaw dropped. How could it be that MY son, the ever-moving, ever-active boy was the one who sat the most still in TKD sitting, earning the praise of his teacher. I'm so proud. I'm beaming. Beaming. And now the cat is out of the bag; I KNOW what he's capable of.
The Bad and Ugly: After class, on our way home, I got a call from Ryan asking me to come straight home. He said that our neighbor was hijacked at gunpoint right out of her garage just two doors down from our unit and the police had just arrived to take statements. Forensics arrived to collect a screwdriver that was found outside on our front porch which probably wasn't related, but collected just to be sure. The victim got home right after I left with the kids for Dylan's class. It was a woman. It could easily have been any of us. Certainly it shook us up and now we are thinking a few things over...
Now for a little video showing Dylan's progress with his Taekwondo class to cheer us all up:
Tonight after Dylan's Taekwondo class, on our way out the door, Dylan pushed his way past the adults to give his teacher a big hug. He then proceeded to invite his teacher to our house to 'see his stickers', which was pretty cute. And on the drive home, he and I had the following conversation:
"Mommy, I want Master Johnny to come to our house."
"Dylan, that's fine, we can invite him and his family in another few weeks when we are all less busy, ok?"
"Ok, Mommy. But I want him to come not in his Taekwondo uniform. I want him to come with pants... and a shirt and... underwear."
Underwear? Dylan sure has a strict dress-code for guests at our house.
Dylan started Taekwondo in an effort to help him build confidence, self-regulation, respect, and an outlet for all that massive preschool energy!
Ryan took him there last Friday and asked him if he wanted to try out a class. At first Dylan was hesitant, but then he saw a 5 year old boy sporting his green belt and Dylan quickly asked if he could do 'that' too. Explanations have been given about the ranking of belts and how it will take a lot of hard work. Dylan was on-board at least in theory.
It's been a week now and he's been to 4 classes and while he's still pretty shy, he's come out of his shell a bit more each class. The teacher (Master Johnny) is a great motivator and clearly loves the kids and his job, seeking to get to know each child and connect with them to help them open up and become both more confident and disciplined (a skill, no doubt). Dylan has become more motivated to 'earn stickers' and earn 'patches' for his uniform, even stating tonight before bed that he's going to say 'YES SIR!' nice and loud tomorrow so he can earn lots of stickers. He began asking to practice his 'tricks' before bed at night and trying out a nice loud 'yes sir' and 'hiya' in the car. He hasn't earned his first belt (white) yet, but if he gets through the first two weeks of trial classes, he'll get that and I think it will help him feel like he's accomplished something.
Last weekend there were a few behavioral issues that Dylan struggled through. It was a tough weekend. But after just a few of his classes, I think he's gaining a sense of control over himself and it's showing in his behavior at home too. With a lot of changes going on at home with Ryan's new job and figuring out how to carve out family-time while Ryan is working longer hours, I understand that some of his acting out is a part of Dylan processing all that and being a preschooler too. Yet, I think that having an outlet for his energy, learning new tools for self-regulation, developing a sense of accomplishment, learning about respect and discipline, and having rewards for hard work and effort outside of our home, is all going to be VERY good for Dylan this year.
Hi-Ya!
Here is a video of Dylan at his first class last weekend. Notice how he keeps looking back to us for direction and reassurance? Poor kid, just didn't know what to do, but wanted to stay in the class. He did a lot of standing there, taking it all in that first day. Another mom told me that her son burst into tears his first class because it was so overwhelming for him. I guess Dylan staying in the class and not running back towards us was a good sign. He's done a bit more each time he's gone now. I'll post another video when I get more clips.
