Lance took his first karate test on Wednesday night. For me, this will be my last “first” karate test. The worst part, I missed most of it. *frown* I was busy running the older 2 boys to and from piano lessons due to Ben being out of town on a business trip.
The good news is that my sister did go and watch and record it for me, so while I only get the last 15 minutes or so, I still get to see it. I walked in the door at the karate studio as they were doing some punching drills.
Evidently, the test was really fun because Lance was so excited and he gave his instructor Carol Parenti a great big hug right in the middle of it. She has so much patience with those little kids, even when they are having a hard time “following directions” as my sister described her experience watching the test behind the video camera. They have so much energy and she reels it in and channels it to make their karate learning experiences a lot of fun.
I even got to see the board breaks. That made me happy. It is always fun to watch their faces light up with amazement when they actually break the board. I have to say that Lance showed no fear or hesitation in his attempted to break the board. None! Straight through!
Now, granted he did have his sparring gloves on so he wasn’t going to feel any pain anyway but they weren’t breaking the lowest level of the break-away boards either.
Lance was so proud of himself. He says that this is him “looking tough.”
I am not so sure about the “tough” part. I mean, check out that smile! Not exactly a tough face. Maybe he was just more than willing to pose for the camera. He was excited that I had actually made it to his test.
He didn’t break just one board, though. So he got to experience that excitement and surprise more than once. The older boys have only ever gotten to do the break once time. The rush goes away so quick.
Lance is just delighted with himself. He is more than happy to share his news about his new belt with EVERYONE he sees. This is a big deal for him. Like I have said before, I wasn’t so sure that he could get more excited about something than when I took him for that first karate class. He has shown me once again, that this is “way better” than that!
I am throwing this picture in just because it is a good picture of his face. He was trying not to smile. He was trying to look all serious. You can see that half grin though.
At the end, they had each of the kids present their old belt to their parent. It was mostly so that the 4 and 5 year olds would not be having to keep up with it and whatnot.
Lance took this presentation to an all new level. He presented me with his white belt with such ceremony and dignity. How can a mom not smile at this presentation? It brings a great big smile to my face even today. I love how serious he took this. He even at the age of 5 realizes that some things deserve to be recognized. The look on his face was almost as if he was trying to say, “here mom, thanks for helping me get here.” His silent presentation was enough to touch my heart and make me take pause in that what I do (as crazy as it may make me in the evenings) does matter and it does make a difference in their lives.
Then each of the children that tested (there were 3 of them) had their new belts tied on them by the instructor. Lance was more than happy to stick his stomach out for that one.
I am so proud of Lance! Not that a yellow stripe belt is a big deal, but to him it is. For me it was a moment to see him SHINE and get to see his face light up with pure accomplishment. For him, it is a first step toward a lifetime of accomplishments. He did this. I didn’t. The only thing I did was wash that uniform and make sure he got to class. He did the rest of it.
Way to go, Lance!
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