October 12, 2006
Looking Ahead
I must have scared off the teenage black belt with my mad sparring skills, because he hasn’t been in my advanced class for two weeks now. Either that or he’s sick of listening to me scream when I fling the nunchaku too close to my face. . . probably the latter.
I’m basically getting private lessons now which has been great. In two weeks, I’ve managed to learn two of the three kata’s (Odo No Nunchaku and Pinan Yondan) I’ll need for 2nd kyu and the waza as well. I’ve also learned a lot about the history of Okinawan Kenpo, which has been very interesting.
The other thing I’m learning? Being a brown belt is hard work. There is no such thing as casually letting a kata sink in anymore. Now it’s time to pound the kata’s into your head, relearn all the little things that you were doing incorrectly beforehand and learn how to apply the kata’s to real life situations. Everyone thinks that karate is physically demanding. But lately, I’m finding that it is more mentally trying.
Brown belt kata’s have all these techniques and preps that are unfamiliar. I was joking with my instructor this week that it was going to take me 40 minutes to complete one kata on my own. When parts were sticky, I had to stand there and think so hard it almost hurt, just to get my hands the right way and get into the right position.
The good news though, is that my instructor said that he saw improvement in my nunchaku swinging technique. I’m getting the hip motion down or starting to anyway, and hearing a compliment on that kata made me grin from ear to ear.
Big I won’t be grinning for a while about her kata though. Big I’s new kata is proving to be quite a challenge. Her kata for yellow belt is Wansu. Wansu is unique from the first Nai Hanchi kata’s because it does not move on a straight line. Wansu is all over the place. The best way to teach Big I kata is to mirror her. She does well if you can do the kata backwards. I’ve been able to help her this way with her first two, but Wansu doesn’t allow for such a teaching technique. While the rest of the class is facing the mirror, Big I is standing facing the back of the dojo, watching our instructor and doing all the moves backwards. Wansu is going to be a trying kata for Big I (and for her mama too.)
I am sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve had requests for a fantasy football update, and I have much to tell on the Kindergarten topic. However, along with your baby turning a year old comes a 1 year well visit which means a shot, which means a fussy baby with a fever. It also means that one particular BBM is super busy freaking out and wanting to spend every moment with my kids because MY GOD, they grow up too fast. Plus, we’re all sort of hanging out under the weather with yet another cold brought home from Kindergarten, etc. Things will get back to normal around here soon. I look forward to catching you up on my life and catching up on all of yours as well.
October 8, 2006
Elmo-palooza
I didn’t write about karate last week. I wanted to, but I just didn’t have any time to put anything coherent together. First, the gifts started arriving. . .
Then, I was too busy being all "wah, my baby is a year old"; and then came the baking. . . lots and lots of baking. First came the cookies in the shapes of C’s, 1’s, little hands and little feet. . .
Then came the cupcakes, complete with Elmo cupcake papers and Elmo icing decorations.
Then came the baby block cake that took 5.5 hours to complete from start to finish. It was four layers and took all kinds of patience and tools like a cake leveler (which is THE coolest baking invention EVER), and food coloring and Smoothie Skittles (which I don’t recommend eating although they are great for decorating).
The cake was a huge success as evidenced by the cake buzz. . .
As if the baking wasn’t enough, there was also decorating, and other food preparation. . .
But all that really matters is that the party was a huge hit with Lil C. She loved the balloons. . .
She loved all her gifts, including her clothes (that’s my girl!). . .
She also loved her new car. Our living room is now a drive-in for watching Elmo’s World. . .
And playing with Big I has never been so much fun. . .
The party was indeed a huge hit with Lil C. . .
This post has been brought to you by the monster(s) who have taken over my home. . .
October 3, 2006
One
Dear Lil C,
One year ago tonight, I was just starting to hit the harder contractions after being in the hospital the entire day. Finally, at 1:05 am on October 4th, you, my beautiful baby girl, came into this world with your fist curled underneath your chin and my life was once again, turned completely upside down. In the months leading up to your birth I wondered to your daddy how we would love a second little girl as much as we already loved our first. I never could have imagined the amazing joy of becoming a parent for the second time, of becoming your very lucky Mama.
This year has been amazing, full of all those exciting firsts, and so full of love. You are adored by everyone who meets you. Your sister adores you completely, even during those moments when you knock all of her blocks over, or decide that one of her dolls makes a fine teether. One of your favorite things to do is run to the stairs, look back at me and your sister and say, "Go Up. Go. . go. . .go. . .go" as you crawl up the stairs as fast as you can, so that you can beat your sister to her room and get a prime location in front of her Cinderella vanity.
You are always up for a game of chase and tickle with your sister. She spent much of this year waiting anxiously for a chance to hold you, curl up with you on the sofa and stroke your little head. Now that you’re too busy for just lying around, your sister steals the cuddles where she can and often grabs you mid-step to give you a hug. Although often annoyed with these intrusive hugs, you sometimes return them with a wide open mouthed kiss that sends your sister into hysterics. Although there will be bumps in the road as you both grow, one thing that will never change is how much she loves you.
Recently, you have become very social and love to wave hello to perfect strangers, even cars that pass by as we wait for your sister at the bus stop or take a walk. If you’re unsure of someone though, you immediately lay your head down and grab hold tightly of my arm and shirt. I can’t help but love these moments, because it’s during these times that I’m able to truly cuddle you and hold you close. Those moments are becoming more and more rare since you’ve become an expert at walking, climbing, and getting into trouble.
You are easily able to climb up onto furniture now, and although you have no idea how to go down steps, your ease at going up completely amazes me. You are also no stranger to innovative thinking. The ottoman provides easy access to your port-a-crib and I fully expect to see you trying to dive into the crib within the next few weeks. When there isn’t a piece of furniture to assist you in your endeavors, you find other ways. Books make great stepping stools, and handfuls of Mama’s hair makes for great leverage. At this rate I’ll be bald before I ever get a gray hair.
Although you took your first three steps at about 8 1/2 months, you waited until September to start walking like a pro. I have to say that I was happy for the delay, because now you are unstoppable in your destructive adventures. Whether pulling all the DVD’s out of the cabinet, finding your way to the bathroom and shredding toilet paper, or dumping every single toy out of your port-a-crib, you do so with great enthusiasm. Often, on a return trip, you will hold one of your found "treasures" high above your head, swinging the other arm high above your head as well, and your daddy and I can’t help thinking that you would make the orangutans at the zoo very proud.
In recent weeks I have caught you "reading" to yourself and flipping pages with ease. Although in the beginning, only "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" would do, you have now expanded your reading tastes to include some of your sister’s books too, and Elmo is always a welcome treat. Speaking of Elmo, you adore Sesame Street and say "Elmo" with ease. I am hoping that all the hard work of turning our house into the backdrop for Elmo’s World this week is a hit with you at your party.
You seem to have an amazing grasp of language already. Your daddy and I were shocked when you sat up in bed last weekend, waved, and said "hi da". We were also amazed at your interest in the pantry closet’s contents, particularly the jars and bottles of spices. One of your favorite past-times is requesting that I open up the vanilla extract so that you can take a little sniff. A few weeks ago, after hearing me say it for the 100th time, you repeated back "wanilla" and I about fell over. Because I didn’t believe it myself, I called your daddy and let him listen to you repeat it over the phone. We laughed because you sounded so incredibly cute and you laughed too.
You’ve also become very proficient at baby signs and have decided that the sign for "more" applies to so much more than just food. Often, after reading you a book, you will look up with those big beautiful eyes and smile a little smile that shows how proud you are of yourself and tap your palm with your pointer finger. More stories please, and who could resist?
As I count down the hours until you turn one, I am a little sad that this first year is over, and that it has gone so fast. But I am also excited about what the coming year will bring. This year has been so much fun as I’ve watched your personality grow and blossom into this adorable and fun-loving little baby girl. You are so filled with joy and excitement when you do something new and have no problem giving yourself a round of applause, which sometimes turns into a spirited game of patty cake. Your smile, now with six teeth, has the ability to light up the room and especially my heart.
You are an incredible little miracle who has made my life so happy. I can’t wait to see what is yet to come.
Happy 1st Birthday! I love you with all my heart.
Love,
Mama
October 2, 2006
What is going on?
I sit here today watching a news conference. The officer on the television is saying that a 32-year old man stormed a one-room school house armed with guns and planks of wood to secure the doors. Once inside he divided the boys from the girls. He released 15 boys and kept and bound between 10-12 young female students, ranging in age from 6-12. He proceeded to shoot all of the girls, killing some of them execution style before shooting himself. The man had no criminal record. He left suicide notes for his wife and children. Two hours after walking his own children to their bus stop, he was shooting innocent little girls. He said in rambling fashion in one of the notes he left that he was getting "revenge" for something that happened 20 years ago. These children were not even a glimmer in their parents’ eyes 20 years ago and now at least three little girls are dead and several others are fighting for their lives. Last week was Colorado, now Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. . . Amish country Pennsylvania.
When Columbine happened many years ago, I was camped out on my living room floor working on a project for one of my classes for my Masters degree in Education. It was Earth shattering then, as I worked on my teaching degree. Once I was a teacher it was terrifying and simultaneously annoying: the multiple school evacuations due to bomb threats scrawled on bathroom mirrors, the afternoons spent camped out in the stadium freezing since we were unable to retrieve any of our personal belongings before evacuating the building yet again, the inquiries from administration as to which students went to the bathroom and when to try to figure out who might have been behind the threat of the day. When I gave up my teaching career, I was especially glad to be done with the bomb threats and the security measures we were constantly being made aware of as they changed and evolved along with each new threat.
As a parent, the increasing amount of school shootings is even more alarming and unsettling. Years ago, other students were the shooters; now they are grown men who are entering our children’s schools and wreaking havoc. Before I had children, I considered homeschooling as an option because sending a child to a school just seemed terrifying to me. I talked myself out of it when I realized my daughter is as stubborn as I am and that it would probably just not work. I rationalized that this doesn’t happen in my area, that the media exaggerates and over reports on these stories, that the instance is actually very rare. Today, it happened close to home and every parent has to be thinking that if it can happen in a one-room Amish school house, My God, it could happen in my child’s school.
How is a parent supposed to protect a child at school? You can hope and pray that the school has safety measures sufficient to protect your children. You can pick and choose where you send your child based on which school you think is the safest. But let’s be honest. . . schools were not built to withstand being stormed by lunatics. School used to be a place where children were safe, where the biggest threat was a bully student. Now, there are grown men, armed with multiple weapons, who threaten our children’s safety and lives.
The only kind of evacuation I ever had to deal with as a child was the mandatory fire drill on occasion. Now children are exposed to much more. When I was a child, I played outside for hours at a time with my friends. Our yards and sidewalks were safe places. Now our playgrounds, sidewalks, and yards are tainted by the memory of Samantha Runnion. Our schools are the target of revenge seeking monsters.
Today I am mourning the loss of these innocent little Lancaster county girls. I am also mourning the fact that my children will never have the kind of care free childhood that I had. And I am angry as hell that I am raising children in this type of world. They deserve so much better.
September 28, 2006
Beating Nunchaku into Submission
I was trying to make peace with nunchaku a few weeks ago. Then I gave up and figured nunchaku and I would agree to disagree. That was until a very wise new black belt made a suggestion. She said I needed to quit trying to make peace with them and instead beat them into submission. Since my "making peace" post, I’ve done a couple things.
- I decided that no one, not even an Okinawan Kenpo and Kobudo master, should use the nunchaku that I initially bought for myself, back when I was a very naive white belt. They are made out of red oak. They are 14" long. They weigh 50 lbs. O.k., that last part is a lie, but they are very heavy.
- I bought a new much lighter pair of nunchaku. They weigh at least half of what my original nunchaku weight. They are 12" long. Both of these things make a huge difference.
- I’ve decided that there is no way you can go into "battle" assuming that you won’t obtain any battle scars. I’ve become willing to accept the fact that I will continually thump myself on the back with them for a while. I may occasionally send my hair flying when I don’t swing them right. It’s possible that I will bang myself in the face with them . . . often. I will probably continue to elicit a screaming response (ask my instructor if you don’t believe me) when I send the nunchaku flying alarmingly close to my face. This will continue until I have this kata mastered.
- There’s no time like the present to learn Odo No Nunchaku.
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