Combat Fighting

Last night Matthew had his Taekwondo exam to get his new blue and brown belt. The belts left after this one are brown, brown and red, red, red and black and then black. Supposedly you have the red one for about 3 years before you continue on so it´s not like he´s going to be a black belt in the next year or two. I think the coach said around 12 years old if he keeps going without stopping and passes all the tests he has to do for the black belt. I don´t know if we´ll get to that point or not, but it would be kind of cool if he did! I also wouldn´t be totally disappointed if he didn´t. He´s done great thus far and if he wants to go for the black then so be it!

At the beginning of the year, he took a 4 month break from it and decided he wanted to go back in April. This go around he had decided that he didn´t want to do combat fighting on Fridays or tournaments or anything. So I haven´t thought about that much at all this year. Well, I forgot that in the exams, there is a combat fighting part even though half the class doesn´t particpate in that part of the program. I had not taken his chest pad, helmet or forearm and shin protectors to the exam because I totally forgot about that. Since half the class doesn´t have those protectors, the coach has chest pads and helmets for them to use during these times. So I thought, oh well, no biggie, he´ll use the ones from the academy. HOWEVER, they don´t have forearm and shin protectors to loan and most of that is ok because the ones who don´t have them are lower level belts and younger, 4-6 years old. Well, Matthew is the most advanced belt in his class so obviously he was going to be put to fight with someone of his same age, size and level. Matthew hasn´t done combat fighting in almost 10 months. When I realized that, I was like, OH! I didn´t bring the protection pads and he´s going to be fighting with someone who A) has the pads, B) has been doing the combat fighting classes every Friday along with bigtime tournaments and C) is an EXCELLENT fighter! YIKES!!! I was so nervous! They do all their defending with their forearms and many a time, a kick goes wrong and hits a shin, etc. So, he was paired up with this boy named Orlando who is GOOD. I mean, he frequently wins gold medals in tournaments. His dad is super nice and we always talk so I went over to stand with him and telling him about my concern with Matthew´s lack of practice and lack of protection. I said how good Orlando was and his father said, "Yeah, and he kicks really hard! " (he said in a concerned voice) I said, " I know he does and that´s why I´m so nervous!" So, a minute later, the fight started and I was just praying the he didn´t get too many bruises with too much pain. I mean, I figured  he´d lose but that wasn´t my concern at all. Afterall, they´d still give him the belt for completing the exam.

After a few seconds the boy´s dad and I realized Matthew was really holding his own! In fact he was winning! Orlando´s dad was like tapping me saying, "Look, look! Look how well Matthew´s doing! He´s winning! He´s doing great!" I was practically at the point of tears because I just couldn´t believe what I was seeing! I was so proud....just so proud! At the end it was 6-6 and the coach said whoever gets the next point wins. The other boy finally got the point but it wasn´t easy! Matthew handled it like a total champ....I was just so impressed!!

Later at the end of the exam, he got the "best exam" award from his group (there are 4 different group levels in the exam) and got his first stripe on his new belt. So now, we have to think seriously if maybe he MIGHT want to go back to combat fighting Fridays but he has another obligation on Friday right now so it would have to be next year. If he´s that good without even practicing for 10 months, I can´t imagine how well he could do if he practiced the techniques and strategies they teach on Fridays.

Continuation to "Moments"

So, I posted the last one  before I put any pictures because I wasn´t sure if I was going to put pictures on it or not but I decided to do it! So here they are!!!

A "carnaval" parade for Montserrat´s birthday party!

Mother´s day lunch

Mother´s day lunch

Julian still doesn´t like pictures...but he knows everything...

A miracle we got Julian in so many pictures!

Moments

Ok, so I have a few "moments" to share that I jotted down to not forget. Well, actually aunt Lisa helped me put the list together when I couldn´t remember everthing.

1. A couple of weeks ago, Julian and I were talking about what happens after you die and I mentioned that after going to heaven and seeing all the people and animals that have passed on, you "might" be sent back down to earth as a baby to live on the earth again. Julian protested! "I don´t WANT to come back as a baby! No, no, no, I´m not going to come back as a baby, I won´t do it!" He was borderline crying about this. I then told him that "no, no, no YOU probably won´t come back as a baby because I´m sure God will want to keep you up there with him to be an angel, would you like that better?" So he calmed down and said that´s what he wanted to do. Then the other day he mentioned it again and said he didn´t want to come back as a baby, but he wanted to come back as a 3 year old, ha, ha, ha!

2. At some point Julian mentioned something about someone being a "chatterbox". I have never used that word before with them and seeing as they speak mostly Spanish at school, I asked "where did you learn that word chatterbox?" Julian told me on a show they watch called Peppa Pig. Then I said, "Julian, do you think you are a chatterbox?" and Matthew immediately yelled from across the room, "yes, he´s a CHATTERBOX!" which is seriously true these days. I mean, Julian is talking and talking and talking....about EVERYTHING! Sometimes I´m messaging on my phone or washing dishes or trying to talk to Matthew and I constantly here Julian in the background going on and on! Poor thing. I can´t listen to every single thing he says because it´s just so much and it´s all the time! He´s doing lots of math now out loud that he´s learned from Matthew. He says, "mama, 20+20 is 40, 40+40 is 80, 80+80 is 160, 160+160 is 320!" Then he starts in on the thousands....."2000+2000 is 4000, 4000+4000 is 8000, 8000+8000 is 16000, 16000+16000 is 32000." I mean it just goes on and on! I couldn´t be happier with both my boy´s math abilities though! It´s impressive! The other day Matthew´s stomach was upset at school and his teacher called me to tell me that he just wasn´t himself, he was complaining of stomach pains, was pale and sweating, that he wasn´t participating like he always does and she was surprised because it was math class and he loves math class! So she knew something MUST be wrong. Well, she was right!

3. The other night when I was putting Matthew to bed, we were laying there holding hands as we always do and he squeezed my hand REALLY tight! I was like, "Matthew! What was that about?" and he said, "it´s just that mama... I just LIKE you SO MUCH!!!" Ha, ha, ha! I said, that I loved him too and that I loved him more than anything. I also said, "I love you more than you love me, I´m sure of it!" He said there was no way that I loved him more than he loved me. Then I told him I would die for him if I had to. So he told me that if someone was going to shoot me with a gun that he would jump in front of me so the bullet would hit him and not me. Ahhhhh, the loving things you talk about right before going to sleep!

4. All of the sudden, Julian knows everything. Actually, he tells me very seriously, "Mama, I KNOW EVERYTHING...except how to read and write but that´s ok because I´m going to learn that next year. But I really do know EVERYTHING." He tells me this pretty often actually! And always mentions that he´ll learn to read and write next year. It´s adorable because he is completely serious and straight-faced when he says it.

5.  Julian has never been the best sleeper. It´s easy to get him to sleep, that´s not the problem. The problem is at some point in the night, he almost always wakes up and comes to sleep in our room. He doesn´t want to sleep in his room because he´s scared so I put him to sleep in our bed, and then move him to his bed so at least we´ll have maybe half the night with a little more space to spread out. Once he´s in our toom, he´s either on top of me or on top of Dani. Or maybe his head is on top of me and his legs on top of Dani. So the other day, I woke up and he wasn´t in our bed. When I went into the living room, he had just gotten in there on the sofa and he was waiting on me. He said, "mama, I won! I´m the winner because I got here before you or Matthew!" (Dani was on a night shift) I was like, "YES you did!! You´re the WINNER! That is so great that you beat Matthew and I and made it to the living room first!" I just  want to encourage him to win EVERY DAY and not come in my room and to just go to the living room when he wakes up. Not go to the living room at 3am, but to sleep all night in his room and then go to the living room when he wakes up. That is my wish...