My Photos: Our 7 Year Old Daughter's Taekwondo Belt Test (Board Breaking Video)

In January, both our 7 year old twins moved up from the Pee-wee class in Taekwondo.  They still had their Pee-wee belts and will not officially be promoted until they each pass their next belt test.  Our daughter had her belt test last week to turn in her low orange belt for a high white belt.  She was extremely nervous and practiced for hours at home with her big brother, who will be testing for his orange belt soon.

When the day of the belt test rolled around, I was relieved to see that our daughter was excited, rather than nervous.  I think all that extra training paid off.  During the test, I could see her level of confidence had risen and I watched her give 110% for the full duration of the test.  Needless to say, I was extremely proud of her.  I was especially proud of her because she showed much perseverance that afternoon . . .

Photo and video taken with the Samsung NX300.

During the board breaking portion of the test, our daughter had trouble with the third break.  I could tell by the look on her face that the first attempt hurt her hand quite a bit.  In fact, after the test she showed me a very painful looking bruise that had formed on her right hand.  Even though her hand hurt, she tried the break that stubborn board two more times and was ultimately able to do it.  I know she was as proud of herself as I was of her.


Now she can't wait for the day of the belt ceremony to come, so she can say that she is officially no longer a Pee-wee.

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Silly Monkey Stories: A Solemn Oath

I had recently shared some photos of our 6 year old daughter's first belt ceremony in taekwondo.  At that time, I had promised to elaborate more on the oath each student needed to take as part of accepting the responsibility of the new belt.

The oath is quite a lengthy one.  They did not need to memorize it, but rather just repeat each line after their Master.  The oath covers quite a lot.  If I am remembering correctly, it covers following the principals of taekwondo, listening to your parents and teachers, doing no harm to anything in nature, not using taekwondo outside of the school and only using it for self-defense.  There may be more, but like I said, it was quite long.

When it came time for the students to repeat the lines of the oath, our daughter did not utter one word.  I was surprised because she did not have to say the words by herself.  All the students in her class who got promoted that day were saying the words simultaneously.  Hopefully she was listening and taking the words in, especially the part about listening to her parents.

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My Photos: A 6 Year Old's Taekwondo Belt Ceremony

Last week, our 6 year old daughter officially graduated from a white belt to a low-yellow belt in taekwondo.  Since she started studying taekwondo about two months later than her twin brother, I know she was happy to finally be the same rank as he is.

Even though this particular group of students are young, the ceremony is still mostly formal.  The master untied her old belt and presented her with the new one.  She was also presented with an official nationally recognized certificate.  She also had to take quite a lengthy oath.  (More on that in our next Silly Monkey Story.)

Even though our daughter said she was not nervous, she seemed so to me.  She had to remember one line, to say "Here, Sir!" when her name was called.  Then she was to run up to the front to take her place for the ceremony.  When it came time to say her big line, she forgot what she was supposed to say.  Luckily, it came to her after a few seconds.  That's what is so great about this age.  Even when they stumble, they are still adorable.

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Silly Monkey Stories: Like a Gazelle

Usually when you hear someone say the phrase "Like a gazelle", it is with a sarcastic tone.  That is not the case here.

Last weekend, our 6 year old daughter experienced her first pre-test in taekwondo, which was designed to prepare her for the real test in which she will be trying to earn her first belt promotion.  Since she is an overachiever at heart, I knew she would be extremely hard on herself if she made any major mistakes during her test.  I was never really worried with the exception of one moment . . .

See our daughter jumping over the kicking shields below?  Well, at one point during the pre-test she had to jump over a stack of four.  I knew if she didn't make it over, she would have been so disappointed in herself that she would just break down crying right where she stood.  Well, it turned out I had nothing to worry about.  She sailed over those shields like it was nothing and as graceful as a gazelle.  I was so proud of her and I knew she was proud of herself as well.

Yes, I took about 170 photos that morning and I didn't get one of the aforementioned leap.  I was sitting way on the other side of the room.  I kick myself for not at least attempting to capture that moment as a keepsake for our daughter.

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Silly Monkey Stories: Our Tough Little Princess

As I had previously mentioned, our 5-1/2 year old daughter recently started taking taekwondo with her brothers.  At first she was a timid little thing.  She wouldn't do her kiyaps (yells).  Now she has become less reserved and has caught up to her twin brother, who started a couple of months before she did.  Sometimes she is the only girl in the class, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Our little princess, who was worried that roundhouse kicks would chip the nail polish from her toes, is tougher than she looks.  She actually rarely cries when she falls down or bumps into something.  She proved how tough she was the other day in taekwondo class.  The class (all 5 and 6 year olds) were running around blowing off steam when she ran smack into another student, who was also running.  She had a big mark on her forehead and was apologetic, but there were no signs of tears.  The other student, however, he was bawling for quite some time.  Luckily he wasn't seriously hurt.

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My Photos: Busy, Busy, Birthdays, Busy, Sick, Busy, Busy

I really don't know why I ever thought that having all 3 children starting school would give me more free time.  Theoretically it should, but realistically I don't see it happening.  I started off doing so well.  I was catching up on some of the work I could never seem to get to during the summer.  I guess all the catching up made me busier than I realized it would.

Two weekends ago, my husband and I celebrated our birthdays.  We took the whole family to the Cheesecake Factory to have a nice dinner.  I took some great photos, but haven't had a chance to take them off my phone to share them.

Then I got sick.  I mean really sick.  Like really blah and weak, then 3 days in bed, and really blah and weak again.  So, now I'm busy catching up from all the work I couldn't do then.  It's 1:54am right now, but I will not miss another week of sharing my favorite photos!

These are a few photos we took of our daughter outside before we left for our birthday dinner.  The first one is my favorite and was taken by my husband.  She truly is Daddy's girl!

(Click any photo to enlarge)

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Silly Monkey Stories: Surprising Future Hockey Star

Makenzie is very athletically inclined. It's surprising considering she does not pay much attention to sports. In fact, you can read this Silly Monkey Story where she told her taekwondo instructor “no” to kicking so she wouldn't chip her toenail polish.

When we recently visited her hockey-playing cousin, she could not stay away from his “toy” goal and stick set and asked me to play. I was pleased that she wanted to play hockey so I was more than happy to accept.

I chuckled as I thought to myself how I would be easy on her and make sure she did well . . . After she burned a few heaters by me, not only was I not using the kid gloves, I was hoping to get out of it with all of my parts intact! Apparently hockey may be her sport!

(Click any photo to enlarge)

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Silly Monkey Stories: A "Star Wars" Story

We are Star Wars fans, from my sons Luke (yes, really) and Jake, to my wife Karen (although she won't admit it, her Star Wars trivia skills rival my own). As a result my daughter Makenzie is a Star Wars fan by proxy. This is all very important as you will see . . .


Today while we were eating dinner, Makenzie started a conversation that went like this:

Makenzie: “Baba, you know there was a trooper at taekwondo?”

Me: “Really?”

Makenzie: “Yes, he was the daddy of one of the students. He had a gun, but he was not wearing his armor.”

I thought that was the most amazing thing I have ever heard. I was proud and embarrassed at the same time.  My little girl hears me and the boys say “trooper” all the time and never had it occurred to me that she thought it was the same as a police trooper!

Excellent!

(If you missed it, you can read a related Silly Monkey Story here.)

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Silly Monkey Stories: A TKD Princess

You must have read at least once about how our now 5.5 year old daughter has been enjoying her dance classes for over a year now.  Well, we are facing a problem for the coming school year.  Since she will be attending full-day kindergarten, she will not be able to get to any of the dance classes offered for her age on time.  They are all scheduled to start while she is still on the school bus.  She will have to take at least a whole year off because of this scheduling issue, so we suggested to her that she take taekwondo like her two brothers.  She immediately declined.

I worked on her for several days.  I even explained to her how taking TKD would help her to become a better dancer because it helps with her balance and lower body strength.  I also told her it was good exercise and even tried to throw in a "girl power" pep talk.  As a last resort, I even tossed in a few ideas for bribes . . . a trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop, a shopping trip to Justice, and even the possibility of a small pet.  Still she didn't budge.

When it came time for the boys to get dressed for TKD, I told our daughter to put on a pair of our oldest son's TKD bottoms that he had outgrown.  She was not thrilled about the idea at all.  When we arrived, I tried to get her to accompany me into the class just to observe, but after a few moments she ran back into the waiting room.  Luckily, the owner of the school, who was also the instructor that day, was able to expertly "trick" her into returning to the room by insisting that she help him with something.

I did have to accompany her into the class, but after about 20 minutes or so, I was able to slip out.  Our daughter participated in the rest of the class with a smile on her face.  Then, when they were about to practice a few kicks before the class was dismissed, I saw her say something to the instructor.  I couldn't hear what it was since I was watching her through a two way mirror.

It turned out that she had expressed her concerns to the instructor about how kicking the bag could possible chip the nail polish on her toes.

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Silly Monkey Story: The Polite Patient

A few days ago, our 5 year old daughter took a spill for no apparent reason in her brothers' room.  She ended up getting a patch of rug burn right above her elbow.  After a couple of days, the patch was completely scabbed over.

Then one evening, while the children were getting ready for bed, our daughter calls down from upstairs and asks me where her Dad is.  I asked her what she needed and she said in her usual small voice . . .

"I have a little problem I need help with."

So, my husband goes to check on her and asks her what she needs.  I heard her repeat the same statement, "I have a little problem I need help with."  Then I heard her start to cry a little bit.

Well, it turns out she had bumped her scab and tore it off halfway.  There was blood gushing out and dripping on the floor.  I don't blame her at all for crying because it was a lot of blood and it must have hurt quite a bit.  What I cannot understand is why she did not just say "I need help!" or "I'm bleeding!!!" with more of a sense of urgency.  The way she was talking, you'd think she had dropped a toy behind her bed rather than bleeding profusely.

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Silly Monkey Stories: 4 Going On 80

For quite a long time now, our 4-1/2 year old daughter has been telling stories.  There's nothing odd about that, but it's that she starts almost every story with, "When I was a baby . . . "  The weird thing is that some of her stories are true ones, such as "When I was a baby, you gave me a bath in the kitchen sink and I was looking around at everything in the kitchen" or "When I was a baby, I fell down while I was trying to walk and you picked me up."

I don't think she can really remember her toddler years that clearly, but she probably has a great memory (and imagination) and can recall everything we've ever told her about her earlier years.  If she keeps this up though, we're going to have to start calling her Grandma!

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Letters To Karen: A Happy Feeling

Dear Karen,

I know you have noticed that, from a very early age, your daughter has been a girly girl in spite of all the male influence coming from your two sons and husband.  I know your husband has noticed it too and he refuses to accept facts, such as a girl takes longer in the bathroom to get ready than a boy does.  Don't worry, he will eventually come to terms with the reality that he has a girly girl on his hands and not a tomboy.

I know you are not going out of your way to make your daughter into a pink-loving, pretty-things-adoring, tutu-wearing little girl.  So it was perfectly okay that, when you were last walking through the mall with your family and your daughter pointed and yelled out in delight, "Look!  Shoes!!", that you had a brief moment of that's-my-girl happiness inside.

My Photos (W/E 5-22-10)

If you're growing tired of all the cat photos, I apologize. It's been a long time since we have had a kitten in the house and it is so interesting to watch her grow, develop, and relate to the people and the other cats in our household. I think it's safe to say that she has won over just about everyone, both two and four-legged.

"Time Out"

"Look and Listen"

"The Little Sister"

"I'm Exhausted! Is It Her Naptime Yet?"

"My Daddy's Funny!"

Thank you for taking the time to view my photos this week! If you'd like to play along or see more great photos, stop by to see Lotus a.k.a. Sarcastic Mom.