Taekwando Class

Tonight we went to sign up Noah for his 2-week trial at Han Martial Arts. We got his uniform and did a "private assessment". I figured a private assessment for a 4 year old would be 5 minutes of show me how high you can jump or show me how well you can balance. I was pleasantly surprised to see how involved it was and how long it was. 

Noah meets and bows to Master Han

First Master Han had Noah give him a high five. Then again higher and higher and higher. He told Noah he was Master Han and that Noah should always call him Master Han. He asked Noah if he knew how to bow. Noah did a slow and serious bow.

Next Master Han asked him if he could push Noah. He pushed him with one finger on the shoulder. Noah held steady. Then Master Han asked him if he could push him "like a 6 year old". He pushed him harder. Noah held mostly steady.

Master Han's reaction to Noah's first punch and "Aya!"

He explained to Noah that when he asked him to do something he should say, "yes, sir." Noah was tentative at first but it wasn't long before he had Noah shouting, "Yes, Sir!". They did some speed tests for sitting and standing. Noah was pretty zippy--each time sitting or standing he was shouting, "Yes, Sir!".

Then they moved on to some listening and focus exercises where Master Han asked Noah to always look at him no matter what. But he was tricky and told Noah there was ice cream in the corner. Then it was cake and finally a super cute little doggy. Noah fell for the ice cream trick and quickly looked over his shoulder. But, soon enough he got savvy and stayed focused on Master Han. His hands and arms were nervously swinging and every once in awhile he would clap his hands to his face. It was all he could do to NOT look over his shoulder.

Then Master Han told him to duck down when he said doggy and jump up when he said monkey. He brought out a padded paddle and soon had Noah ducking below and jumping above it. He also had Noah kick a couple of times and  sit down in meditation pose, close his eyes to count to 5.

Noah get his white belt

Finally, he showed him a basic punch position and how to turn his wrists. Then he had him actually punch the paddle and scream "Aya!". The first time Noah did this it was so loud, fast and intense that I gasped and started giggling. Master Han shot me a look that said, "Whoa!". They did that a couple more times. Master Han was funny and threw the paddle  out of his hands with the last big punch. Noah was pretty proud of himself at that one.

Lastly Master Han presented Noah with his white belt, tied it around his waist and invited him to join him in class.

Noah was so excited and I was thrilled with the personal attention. Master Han clearly has a way with kids. First class is tomorrow!

Master Han told me that Noah had great concentration and focus.

Golfing 101

Today Zack came home with some real golf clubs for Noah. They were so cute I had to get Noah on the golf course ASAP. Zack and I picked Noah up from school and went straight to the Montclair Golf Course so Noah could hit a bucket of balls and get his first real lesson.

I wasn't really expecting much, but he was awesome--managed to hit most of them straight and pretty far. He seemed to get a hang of the positioning fairly quickly and was even doing a lot of self correcting.

I found out later that Zack even gave him the full golf course introduction by letting him pee on the course. No beer was involved.

Space Traveller?

Tonight Noah told us very matter of factly that his friend Torsten has been to Space. Daddy suggested that perhaps this wasn't true because Torsten is only a child. Noah's response was: "Dude, he's 5."

Dylan's Doctor Visit (18 months)

Poor Dylan's surgery was just one week ago so he seemed to be a little on edge at the sight of the nurses and doctor. 


Dylan's stats: 
Height: 35.5 inches (100th percentile) 
Weight: 28 pounds (75th percentile) 
Head circumference: 48.75 cm (75th percentile) 

Noah's First Art Show

Noah's piece is the green flower in the lower right hand side.

Noah's butterfly is the orange one.

Applegarden had an art show at the Thornhill Coffee Shop--Noah's first art opening! He had two pieces in the show--a green flower and an orange butterfly.

The school did an art opening in the afternoon where fruit smoothies were served. The event was too crowded for Noah and he doesn't drink juice ("it's too juicy") so we made a hasty escape. He also pointed out that he did not put the antenna on his butterfly. Those were added after-the-fact. Sometimes he's a little too honest.

Word to Describe a Brother

Last night Noah started saying a string of adjectives and assigning those as the "words that belonged to Dylan". They were cute, funny, and annoying.  By this morning he added to the list. "Dylan's words are: cute, funny, annoying, happy, wiggly worm and kicky."

Dream vs Reality

Noah came into our room this morning and instead of cuddling like he usually does he urgently said, "Mom, Mom. My Oakland A's hat is gone."

I reminded him that he doesn't have an Oakland A's hat (because his friend's Brandon and Annie have slacked on their indoctrination). He only has a San Francisco Giants hat.

He looked confused and continued, "...I lost my hat hiking. It fell in the waterfall."

I suddenly understood that he had been dreaming and explained that to him. He didn't believe me until I took him to his room and showed him his hat safely in the closet.