if at first you don't succeed...

just some random stories from our day today.

i was in my room. the officer and my daughter were playing on the bed. he was tickling her. the officer gets up and runs out of the room. my daughter chats with me for a minute. she heads into the front room to find her daddy - for some more tickling. she is calling for her daddy.

"daddy, where are you?"

over in the corner of our living room we have a bookshelf. right next to the bookshelf is the couch. earlier in the day she piled up all her pillows and blankets onto the couch to make "big mountain (she likes to jump off the coffee table and onto the "big mountain".) she sees a big blanket piled up right in front of the bookshelf. my daughter is easily distracted - she was on a quest for her daddy but got distracted by the "big mountain".

she says, "OH! my big mountain!"

she climbed onto the arm of the couch and launched herself onto the "big mountain".

after she landed, she sat there for several seconds. she did not realize her daddy was under the blanket hiding from her. he groaned. he came out from under the "big mountain" and she just stared at him. i think she very confused. at the sound of laughter, i went into the front room.

my daughter said, "i thought it was my bouncer (a big rubber ball with a handle on it that she hops on)." i think she was trying to figure out why it was not such a soft landing.


the officer and i were in our bedroom talking. my son is supposed to be in bed, but he comes into our bedroom to inform us "i need to tell you something. i think i'm getting a beard because my face is itchy all over here." he is showing us where he thinks his beard is. "plus, i can pull the hair on my beard." he's just pulling at his sideburns. he thinks it's time for him to shave.

today we went tae kwon do. there were only 4 people there. 3 black belts and my son (green belt). he is excited because he gets to be in the front row. as they are doing their kicking techniques, my son is getting frustrated because he can't remember kicking technique 7 & 8. master lee is showing him but is a little irritated he doesn't already know them (although no one has shown him both techniques all the way through yet). my son is squeezing his eyes shut, which means he is tearing up. he does NOT like to mess up. in the year he has been doing it he has never out and out cried or been so upset he has had to come out of class.

master lee told him to work on tae kek 4. my son was confused - couldn't remember the very beginning of this form. master lee had asked him if he knew it and he did, but i think the fact that he was already frustrated didn't help. he was getting upset again. master lee told him, "if you don't know something, don't say you do! take a break!!!!"

my son came out of the studio crying. i felt so bad for him. he sat in my lap and let it loose. i just told him make sure he tells master lee what he does know and what he doesn't know. he calmed down after a couple of minutes and went back into class. master lee asked him if he knew the kicking techniques they were working on earlier. he said, "not all of it sir, no one has taught me all the steps yet." "do you know the tae kek 4? it starts like this..." master lee asked him. "Yes! i know that one, i had forgotten how it started sir!" he went into his section of class and started practicing.

i was proud of my son today even if he didn't know all his forms or steps. he stayed in the class and continued to try to learn the steps he didn't know by watching the black belts. he didn't give up. he didn't yell at master lee or quit. he stayed until master lee told him to take a break. he went back into class and told master lee what he did know and what he did know. i liked his perseverance, patience, and attitude. i can learn a lot from him. :)