Ninja Night

Last Friday, Jack attended Ninja Night at his Tae Kwon Do school.  They had advertised the event in class, and Jack had been asking me for about a week and a half if he could go.  Brad and I weren't completely sold on the idea, as this would be Jack's first drop-off event.  No parents present.  And a late night - the party didn't end until 9:30 pm.  I waited a few days to see if the excitement of the idea would wear off for him, and it didn't.

I finally made it up there and signed him up to attend.  That night, he said that he didn't want to go without us, and that he'd rather stay home.  I didn't push the issue or make it a big deal that now he had to go, I just tried to talk about how much fun it would be.  The next day was Ninja Night.

When I picked him up at the end of the day, I mentioned that we had to go home to get ready for Ninja Night.  I asked him what he wanted to dress up as, and he said he wanted to be a Ninja Turtle.  He had an outfit all planned out - one that consisted of green pajama pants from half of a Buzz Lightyear pajama set, and a Green Lantern pajama shirt turned backwards:)  I already knew that I was going to give him a pair of Ninja Turtle pajamas I'd bought and hidden awhile ago, but I just wanted to see what he had planned.  I told him I thought maybe I had some Ninja Turtle jammies he could wear, and he was so excited!

"You mean all green, like the turtle shell?  Nothing else?  No words?  Really?  All green?  Just like a turtle?"

"Yeah, I think so.  Let me go check, and I'll be right back."

When I came back downstairs with the all-green, true-to-form Ninja Turtle pajamas, he just about exploded with excitement.  It was so stinkin' cute.

He got dressed as quickly as I've ever seen him do, and we were off.  He was a champ.  When I dropped him off, he didn't seem upset at all.  I was so proud of my brave boy.

His sister, on the other hand, was very upset to leave "My Jack" behind.  She cried real tears and everything.  When I asked her what she wanted to have for dinner on the way home, she whimpered, "TopKick," the name of Jack's Tae Know Do school:)

Brad and I got a chance to realize how easy it was when we only had one baby to feed and play with and put to bed.  The house was so quiet...  We don't remember it that way, as being easy, but ohmygoodness - when we only have one at a time...

Anyhow, we had a great evening with Hannah Bear, and the whole time, I couldn't help but wonder how Jack was doing at his first event without Mom and Dad.  No one from the school had called, asking us to pick him up, so we took that as a good sign:)

We decided I would stay home with a sleeping Hannah while Brad would go pick Jack up from his party.  He was sad that he hadn't gotten to see Jack before the party, so it only seemed right.  I was sure that Jack would come home and be carried in by Brad, sound asleep.  Boy, was I wrong!

He was clearly on a party-high because Jack came bounding in the door, hungry and ready to eat.  We gave him some milk and yogurt and listened as he rambled on about all the fun he'd had.  He told us all about the haunted bus and the costumes he'd seen.  

I made a comment about how I thought he'd be asleep when he got home.

And do you know what that smart, little man said to me?  As matter-of-factly as possible?

"It's a short ride."

{My, how he's growing up...}

A White Belt and a Lesson Learned

This evening, Jack graduated to a white belt in Tae Kwon Do.  We are so proud of our little man.

He'd been asking me to take Tae Kwon Do for about four months, but we wanted him to finish swimming and soccer.  When those two sessions ended, we signed him up for a month-long trial of Tae Kwon Do, and Jack loves it!

 {warming up with a soldier crawl}

{stretching}

At home, we've noticed a change in his level of respect and use of manners.  And in class, I'm noticing that Jack's ability to focus is getting much better.  In addition to all that Jack is learning, I'm also learning some classroom management skills that will be useful when I go back to the classroom.  His teacher is really amazing at getting a bunch of wiggly five year olds to listen, participate, and focus.

Hannah's picking up some things, too.  Just the other day, Daddy asked her to do something, and she said, "Yes, sir," and gave him a thumbs-up!

To celebrate Jack's success, we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner.  We had a good time - shared a Mountain Dew (for us) and milk (for them) toast to Jack's white belt.  They both thought that was pretty cute.

Tomorrow is my last day by myself with the kids before I go back to work on Monday.  I've been really proud of myself all summer, as this was the first time Jack and Hannah did not go to school at least twice a week during the summer.  We did really well, and I don't want it to end!

This week we've been keeping really busy, trying to get every last fun thing in one more time before we all go back to school.  We went back to Volcano Island, went to Bethesda's play museum, and played at Sport Bounce.  Today we ran some errands and then did some back-to-school shopping.  But while we were out and about today, Jack asked me when we were just going to stay home and relax.

Oh.  Ouch.

Here I am, thinking I'm super mom with all these great, fun things to see and do, and all they want to do is stay home and play with their toys.

I realized that maybe to them, staying home and playing with their toys and not having plans can be fun, too.  I know it's fun for me, but the truth is, I usually feel guilty on days we don't get cleaned up and leave the house.  I feel like they must be bored - we didn't do anything!  But apparently, that's not so.  They need some down time, too.

And so tomorrow, that's just what we're doing.  We've cleared our calendar, and we're staying home.  And we can't wait!

Against my original thought that I would keep the kids with us all weekend, I decided to take Grandma and Grandpa up on their offer to watch the kids on Saturday.  I need to run a few more errands, and it will give me a chance to get a few things done around the house and to get organized for Monday while the kids are having fun playing with their grandparents.

Then we can have a relaxing family day on Sunday.

I know that Sunday night  I won't be able to sleep, and on Monday I'll be stressed with a new school and schedule.  But until that time comes, I'm just going to enjoy my little loves for a few more days.

Soak it up really well.

And next summer - I'm keeping one day a week where it's just a stay at home and relax day.  Because they need it just as much as I do.