Wordless Wednesday: White Belt

I wrote last month about how Mister Man was struggling with his behavior associated with his autism. I was having a really bad day, but much of it was exemplified by his attempt to move up to the "big kid" class at Tae Kwon Do.

It turns out that we got a chance to try it out for the remainder of January to see how he did once he got more used to it - as he told me later that he was very excited and nervous. On February 1, the owner of the studio asked him if he wanted to have a white uniform, and he about passed out from happiness.

I officially have a white belt in the big kid class. Even better? At last night's class he earned his first white belt stripe (they do it only for white belts to help them know where and when they are progressing, with four stripes required before promotion is even a consideration).

My New Little Orange Belt

I have a trio of fun giveaways going on right now:

Family calendar giveaway from BusyBodyBook right here.

JumpStart Get Moving Family Fitness game for the Wii right here.

Spinbrush MyWay! (for girls) battery operated toothbrush right here.

***

After my oh so fun and mind-blowing day yesterday, I almost forgot that not all was bad. There were some parts that were actually really good - like ummm getting confused for a twenty year old (yeah that one threw me for a loop, too!).

And then there was Mister Man's belt promotion test. We started Tae Kwon Do at the beginning of the month. Mister Man has been absolutely loving it, and he's been working super hard at it. We have class twice a week, and he practices what he's learned almost every day. Fortunately he's still at the belts where I remember enough from when I (briefly) did Tae Kwon Do that I can help him practice.

His hard work is really paying off, and yesterday he tested for his orange belt. He had to demonstrate everything he's learned to date - his stances, punches, blocks, kicsks, falls, positions, etc. And his eyes had to be closed while doing it.

He did great. He passed his test, and he is officially an orange belt, so he'll be learning all new stuff starting tomorrow - and boy is he excited.

The coolest part of the test for him is that he got to break a board with his foot after the test. And he did it - on the first try. It was pretty awesome, and I think he's going to keep that board forever.

After the test, the instructors removed his Velcro yellow belt and tied on the new orange one. I began to worry that now we had to officially learn how to tie the belt rather than just Velcroing it in the back. Luckily, I discovered that the orange belt is also Velcro once he came out to show me. Phew!

And now we begin our quest for purple. I know (as does he) that it won't be nearly so quick and that he'll have to learn more - including his first forms - but he's ready for it and can't wait to see what he learns tomorrow.