Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Old friends and Taekwondo

Last night, I met up with my old friend and roommate Amy to check out her taekwondo studio and see her daughter, whom I haven't seen since she was 4 (she's now 12). Evan, my 5 year old, has been interested in taking some classes, and really enjoyed his karate class he took through the rec center. So I thought, "Hey, I can throw some money Amy's way, and Evan can get a few hours of excitement into his routine".

When I saw Amy walking towards me with a very tall girl beside her, I thought maybe it was one of the kids from the class. But no, it was Kendall. I felt so damn old. I was there when we found out she was a she at the ultrasound, I took Amy to doctors appointments and brought her her favorite foods at work. I was there when she gave birth. And she grew up. What the hell?! Kendall is 12 now, and such a beautiful girl. Amy is half Filipino, so she has beautiful skin. And her daughter looks just like her.

Anyway, Kendall has been in taekwondo since she was 4, and is now a National Champion. She has numerous gold medals and is very dedicated. Amy said she is very respectful and has great focus.

So, like I was saying, Evan wants to do this, and after seeing how dedicated the kids in the class were, I was so excited for my little back-talker to get involved. Maxwell, the teacher and Amy's significant other, said at break Evan could come and kick and punch the pads with him. Evan just held back and got all shy. I was a little worried at this point. Finally the time came, and Evan said thanks but no thanks and refused to go up on the mat. Kenzie, however, jumped up and said she wanted to do it. Maxwell asked if it was OK, and I said why not.

You should have seen my little Princess kicking and punching. She stopped once to ask for a huggie and he very firmly, but nicely, told her she had to focus and finish first. Now normally, this would put her into a fit of tears, but instead she just said O'tay and finished.

When she was done and the hug given, she ran up to me and asked if she could do it again. I said she had to ask the teacher when he was done. Which she did, ever so nicely. She then insisted that she wanted to do it.

So, I went to the class to sign up Evan and left with only Kenzie signed up. Three times a week, 1 hour each session for $50. Not too shabby. I'm really hoping it helps her get out of the baby stage she has never grown out of. And I'm hoping once Evan sees how much fun his little sister is having, he'll want to do it, too. Both of them need something like this. Kenzie needs to learn to focus and Evan needs to get over his shyness.

So on Wednesday, Kenzie gets to go to her first official class. She'll get her gee, or costume as she likes to call it, and her helmet and pads. And I will get to see my little girl learn how to kick ass.

10 comments:

Crankyputz said...

my fav part of TKD used to be hanging out with the kids....glad you guys are making the effort..

Yoda said...

That's great. Martial arts are a great investment for a child. There are so many things to be learned, and not just throwing punches!

That said, I barely managed my yellow belt in TKD :-p

Anonymous said...

I tried to sign my kid up and he said, "No thanks, I don't think I want to break wood with my hands. It seems like it would hurt alot."

Far, FAR too many movies, apparently.

Mighty Dyckerson said...

Great, another female who has been taught how to kick guys in the nuts. You couldn't have just signed her up for piano lessons??!

Anonymous said...

Martial Arts are so good for kids! It took me almost a year to convince my father to let me join, not sure why, I think it was just financial concerns.

But when I was 13 and Corky was 16, we got our black belts on the same day. We have a lot of great memories from doing martial arts, it opened a lot of different worlds to us and it probably kept us out of a lot worse trouble we could have been getting in to.

Congratulations!!

Effortlessly Average said...

And they'll be able to count to ten in Korean! We all know how useful that is. heh.

Princess in Galoshes said...

GIRL POWER! Rock on, little girl! Maybe big brother will develop an interest when she's able to lay him flat in .4 seconds. ;-)

Jill said...

I loved Taekwondo as a young girlie. She's gonna grow up a strong lady!

captain corky said...

Sounds like a lot of fun mom.

Anonymous said...

I miss you.

=)