Brynn's Karate Halloween Party

I took a very excited Mario to his karate Halloween party on Friday. He had to watch an episode of "The Mario Super Show" on Netflix before we went, to remind himself of how Mario talks!


The dojo was full of kids. Two classes joined together = mass chaos! They played dodge-ball, tug of war and other fun games:

Brynn (Mario) and his buddy Liam the Assassin

 

And then there was the candy. Sensei, myself and some other parent's covered the mat with candy:

 

Then the overhead lights were turned off, and the strobe lights turned on:

I have to say that it was one of the best party's I've taken him to over the years. He had a blast, and I enjoyed watching him have fun :)

Brynn's First Karate Tournament

As you all know, Brynn started taking karate classes in May, and passed his first test in August. He has really taken to the sport, practicing his kata's (routines) at home and coming up his own too! Sensei (the teacher) is always impressed with how well Brynn remembers the new kata's he is learning: Brynn now knows 4 with little-to-no hesitation.

October is the usual month for karate tournaments to start. The first was hosted in Eagle, CO a good 3 hr drive from here. Thankfully the second one was the following weekend in Grand Junction - only 1 hr away - and so Brynn was ok to miss the first one!  Seems like his Dojo (his group) did really well at the Eagle tournament, bringing home 15 trophies. Which lead Brynn to have absolute confidence in his ability to win a trophy:

B: "I really want to win a trophy mum."
M: "Yes sweetie, but if you don't that's ok since it'll be your first tournament. A learning expereince."
B: "Yes but I REALLY want to bring home a trophy."
M: "Well, do your best and we'll see what happens ..."

Sound familiar to any of you??

See, this was his first real competition in anything. Sure, he's had to take swimming, karate, spelling and math tests before, and he played soccer one year but this was different. This was him against all the other boys in his age division. He was so confident that he was going to get a trophy, that I was a little worried about dealing with his emotions if he came away with just a participation medal/trophy.

I think it's safe to say that Jon and I were both a little overwhelmed with the size of the tournament. Dojo's had traveled from as far as Boulder, CO - a 5 hr drive - and western parts of Utah to compete. There was real commitment here, and we started to worry that our little six year old was going to be very sad. I mean, why would you travel so far if you didn't think you could win? For the experience, I guess.

Brynn's division was called up first, right after the opening ceremonies where all the competitors filed out with their Dojo's. Brynn lead his Dojo out since he was our youngest competitor. He looked so small and a little overwhelmed but still supremely confident. His division consisted of seven or eight 6-7yr old boys, some of whom were really good and some who still needed a little bit more practice :)

And so the competition began. It was all a little confusing because they had to take their own belts off to put on either a red or blue belt, so the judges could easily score with their red and blue flags. However Brynn paid good attention and seemed to understand what was happening. The first few pairs of boys to do their chosen kata's were in the 5 yr old division, although I didn't originally understand that they were competing in the same division as Brynn. The boy who Brynn competed against was very good, and he seemed a little more confident in how the actual competion worked. He started his kata a few seconds befoer Brynn, a was just a little more polished - less nerves maybe?

Brynn, on the right, doing his kata

Talking about nerves, my stomach was full of them. If this was Brynn's first really competition, this was my first one as his mum! When the score came in Brynn got 1 judge, the other boy 3 judge. I truly thought Brynn was going to cry, but he held it together really well. I was a little bothered by the fact that the two boys who competed next were ones who Brynn could have easily beat, but such is life. I didn't understand how the competition was scored, and so I just hoped Brynn did better in the sparring portion:

As you can see Brynn, this time with the red belt, was really good at avoiding the other boys kicks/punches, but once again, he received 2 points to his partner's 7 points. This time he really looked sad since his tournament debut was over and he had lost both events.  One of his biggest achievements at the tournament, Jon and I agreed, was how well he sat and watched the other boys compete, showing them the respect they deserved and showing us that he really, really loves anything to do with karate - a number of the other boys in his division were playing around and were asked to be quiet!

Once all the boys had taken their turns, and the winners of each round sparred again to end with with the overall winner, the division lined up for their awards ceremony. There were three rings going at once, and since they were in ring 3, they had to wait while the awards were handing out at the other rings first:

Brynn's division waiting for their award ceremony

Brynn, in the middle, looking on as the 5 yr old division results were announced

When they announced the results for the 5 yr old division, I had an awful feeling that I had entered Brynn in the wrong age group ... and he still hadn't won. I was sharing his disappointment in not winning a trophy, when the announced said he would now give the results of the 6-7 yr old divisions, also in ring 3. I don't think Brynn quite caught that, but my heart did a little skip at the thought that I did place him correctly. I quickly told myself that most of other boys were most likely 7 and so Brynn did well to even get that one judge to award him the kata ... and it seems like that one judge was enough for him to tie for 3rd place!!! It was so unexpected that Jon couldn't get his camera working quickly enough to get a good picture of Brynn receving his trophy, but here is one shortly after as Brynn and some of the others in his division admire their trophy's:

Brynn slept with it that first night, took it to church to show off yesterday and can't wait to take it to karate tonight to show Sensei. Oh, and he heard the announcer talking about a tournament in November, being held in Sandy, UT ... almost 6 hrs away!!!! I sure hope the Dojo isn't planning to go to that one since the would involve an overnight stay and Jon won't have weekends off anymore! Of course, maybe I could leave Iann with my parent's and have a weekend away with my little karate star ...

It's been a month

I just read a really true, heartfelt blog written by a friend, explaining why she hadn't blogged for over a month. LOVED it Missy. She tells how she realized she wasn't in the pictures she was recording, and was so busy capturing the moments that she was missing out of life with her boys. That's sort of how it is with me.

For a while I was really focused on recording my thoughts here. I would grab the computer and head down to the den, writing away while my hubby sat next to me. While it is true we females can multitask, and I really don't have to focus too much on TV shows like Ice Road Truckers (our latest addiction on Netflix, blush), I realized that I hadn't snuggled with man my for ages. Blogging wasn't the only culprit, I love going on rabbit trails, researching mainly useless things on the internet. So, I made a decision to close the computer after 5-10 mins most evenings, and snuggle.

So we have a month to catch up on. School is going well with Brynn. We drop Iann off at preschool, come home and do Bible, math, history, science, and reading. Then he goes to a co-op class for language arts - 10-noon, Mon through Thurs. A break for us, social time for him and time without any kiddos for me :)

In the last month, Brynn passed his first karate test, making him a yellow belt now. He has really taken to karate, practicing his kata's (karate sequences) all the time. He is getting ready for his first tournament next weekend, where he'll compete in both a kata and a sparring division. He is so excited!

Iann now LOVES school. He's learned the sign for school and says it over and over while I'm getting him dressed in the morning, then he runs to his backpack hook, trying to get it down. It's very cute. When we get to his classroom, he waves goodbye, blows me kisses and goes off to brush his teeth with his awesome aide. Have I told you about her?

The Special Ed teacher agreed that Iann would do well with a dedicated aide, but she was told all summer that there was no money to hire one. After his first day at school, crying for 3 hours, she convinced the powers that be to hire one for him, and his class in general. God is good because I have known the lady they hired for about 4 years. She was the leader of the MOPS group I went to after Alex was born, and organized them to bring meals after he passed, and donated money to our now closed Children's Museum in his memory. Basically, she knows our story and understands what I deal with on a daily basis without me having to say anything.

So, that's a very quick outline of the last month. We went up to Denver Children's Hospital to see the Dr who diagnosed Iann last year, for his annual checkup. She was very happy with how much he has accomplished and gave us some tangible goals to work on. While we were there we went to the zoo, the aquarium and the science museum. Well, Jon and Brynn went to the science museum, while Mum, Iann and I went to Cherry Creek Mall :) We had a blast and took lots of pics. Here are the highlights:

Not sure what happened to the camera - Brynn is going up to receive his yellow belt

Showing off his new yellow belt and certificate

Boys and fish

"Please stand still Iann ... "

Peek-a-boo

Feeding the stingray

Playing in the water - who cares about the stingray????

Feeding the birds

Iann's first ride on a Merry-go-round

And that is the last month in a nutshell.

Visit to the Waterfall

Saturdays adventure with Nani:

Feeding the Chipmunks

After picking Iann up from school - where he only cried for a few minutes today - we drove up the Lands End, on the Grand Mesa. We've lived here for almost 7 years and never been up to the Grand Mesa, the largest continuous mesa in the US.  A guy Jon works with told him about a fun thing to do up on the mesa, so we headed up there today.

Here are the highlights:

Brynn, Iann, Jon's mum Nani and I at the top

The view from the top - beautiful even with the cloud cover

The highlight of the day was feeding the chipmunks:

 

 Brynn describes the feel of the chipmunks feet as ticklish. I think he could have stayed on top of the world, feeding these guys for hours:

Another step forward

When we decided not to try potty training Iann this summer, I wanted to do something that would help him become more of a 'big boy' so we decided to move him out of his crib. However, as any of you who have read my previous posts know, Iann isn't the greatest sleeper. Remember me writing about how it can take him over an hour to go to sleep, and then if he woke up at night, he would be up for 2-3 hours. So, while we wanted to move him into a 'big boy' bed we weren't sure how to keep him in it!

Enter the Nikel Bed, made by a family who have a son with autism who wouldn't stay in bed either. A good friend in CA bought one for her son to use, and gave me their web address. My parents bought him one for an early birthday present in June ... and it just arrived today!!!

Brynn has been just as excited as me, checking the front porch to see if if had arrived nearly every day. However, he really wasnt' impressed when it arrived! Basically it is a tent that you put a twin mattress into, which zips up to keep the child contained. I guess Brynn thought Iann was getting a whole new bed :)

So, here are some pictures of rearranging the boys room: getting the mattress into the Nikel Bed, taking down the crib (sob sob) and Iann's transition into a new bed.

Remember how he HATES transitions? All my angst about how he isn't taking to preschool very well? And now another transition ...

How are we supposed to get the mattress in there mama??

 Iann playing in his new bed ... so far, so good ...

Taking the crib down -  I was more emotional than I expected

 

The room all set up - we moved the bunk beds over the where the crib used to be, to make the transition easier for Iann

 

Brynn reading on the top bunk

Iann ASLEEP on the bottom bunk

Jon said that Iann didn't fuss at all when he put him in the tent/bed!!!! I unzipped the flap to take this picture, and he didn't move :) The blue/gray thing in front of the bed in a railing to keep him in bed since we aren't sure that the tent will hold his weight if he starts to fall off the bed! 

Here he is with the flap zipped up:

Finally, here are both boys in their bed:

While this is a bit of an emotional day, Iann growing up etc., I am so excited to finally have both boys sharing the bunk beds that we bought a few weeks just before we brought Iann home. And, sooo excited that this transition went so smoothly :)

Things are looking up

Iann had preschool again today, after a long, 3 day weekend. Last week he did poorly on Monday, better on Tuesday, bad again on Thurs and then had the best day yet on Friday. I was expecting today to be super rough since that's how it the trend went last week.

There were some hopeful signs though. We went back to our regular church this weekend, and although he cried hysterically when I left him, I was told that he calmed down within 5-10 mins. He kept starting to whimper, then look to see who was watching him. When he realised no one was interested in his crying, he gave up and started playing :)  Jon and I had talked about what to do if he didn't settle, I was going to go be in the nursery with him, so it was good to be able to stay in for the whole service. The week before, after only 1 day of preschool, he didn't settle in the nursery at all, and I had to sit with him in there.

The other hopeful sign was that he didn't immediately start crying when we got in the car today. See on Saturday morning he cried the whole way to brunch at our friends' house, stopping only when he recognized their house. And again on Sunday, he started crying when I said it was time to get in the car. We were headed for church that time. Yesterday he didn't get quite so upset but he certainly wasn't happy when we went out to buy some shrubs at The Home Depot. This morning, he was excited to get into the car ... until we pulled into the school parking lot. By the time his aide met us at the car he was pretty hysterical :(

He wouldn't let go of my hand as we walked into the classroom, and I could hear him crying loudly when his aide took him to wash his hands (first thing he does when he gets to school). He refused to sit in a chair, plunking down on the floor to cry and show us how angry he was! I handed him his sippy cup (aka his 'transition object') told him that I loved him and that I'd be back soon, then walked out the door. Sigh. I hate that part.

When I walked up the ramp to his classroom door to pick him up, I couldn't hear him crying. Usually he starts crying again at pickup, when he sees any other children leave before I get there, and so I immediately thought that they had taken him to a different trailer, so as not to disturb his classmates. But no, I walked into the room and he was sitting on the rug, smiling and laughing!!!! He got up and ran to me, after his teacher dismissed him and his aide let him go, jumping and smiling. He only cried for 20 mins today!!!! Wooo-hooo! He even took part in all the class activities and brought home his first 'craft.'

So, even though there is no school on Wednesdays, so there's a day off before he goes again, I would say things are certainly looking up.

Pic's from today

Brynn has been learning about how the Pilgrims first left England to go to Holland, and today we read about their first impression of Holland. After hearing that Holland is lower than sea level in some parts, and that there are dikes in place to keep the water back, his history activity was to build a dike across a bowl, fill it with water and then fix it when I caused it to spring a leak. He LOVED this activity, and ran to get Batman and Robin to to stand in Holland!

While we were doing school this morning, Iann discovered the joy of walking around in my shoes:

Ahh, I so love my boys.

First Day's ...

Iann started preschool today. Gulp, my 3 year old is growing up so fast. I have been really worried about this transition - he doesn't do new things well at all - and had prepared myself for all eventualities ... I thought!

Iann is really uncooperative about having his picture taken, mainly because it involves him being asked to stay still for more that 5 seconds, so here is the best of the photo's I took of him this morning:

 

His backpack - which he won't actually keep on his back - goes down to his knees, however anything smaller doesn't hold all the things he has to have with him: change of clothes, (cloth) diapers, wipers and wet-bag to hold dirty diapers, and his compression vest for when he gets a little out of control.

I put him in the Elmo t-shirt today because he really likes Elmo and I was hoping it would help him if things got tough at school. Well, lets just say that it made NO difference at all. He separated from me fine: I gave him his sippy cup and he walked away. I was the one who was tearing up at that point. An hour and a half later his aide called and said that he had been crying for the last hour, did I have any ideas to help him calm down? Long story short he cried on and off for about two and a half hours!!! Aparently he had calmed down by the time school was over, but started again when parents began arriving, so I heard him crying from outside :(

While I didn't think he'd be completely happy today, I really didn't think he would cry for so long. However, I know that he doesn't like change - he used to cry when I took him to speech therapy, and now he waves goodbye to me as he's running down the hallway! It will take time for him to be comfortable at school, but it's hard to know what to do. Do we shorten the time that's he there, and increase the number of days so it's a shorter time, more often? Do we leave it as is and wait for him to settle down? Then there is the part of me that wants to yank him out and keep him home.

Brynn had a 'first day' today as well: Jon started their science curriculum. This is the fourth week of our school, but the science that we picked is 28 wks, the rest of it is 34 weeks, so Jon had a few more weeks to get ready. He is planning to teach science twice a week, Astronomy to be exact, something that Jon is excited to be learning about too! Here are a couple quick pics I took through the door:

So, it was a day of firsts. A rough o for Iann, a good one for Brynn. And an emotional one for me! 



Iann's Birthday

Our little boy turns three tomorrow. It's sort of hard to believe. As hard as life might be, and as tiring as the ongoing 'discussion's' with the school district might be - and this is the first of 14 years!!!! - we cannot imagine life without him. Around this time of year I think about his birth mum a lot. I am so thankful that she chose life for him, it was a very brave thing to do. However, I also feel some frustration with her for not telling the agency she had been diagnosed with some IQ related issues. Fragile X comes directly from a child's mother, and while the mother doesn't have to be affected by it, she certainly can. When we heard that she told a different agency (one she used with her second son, Iann's young half-brother) about these issues, that lead us to genetic testing and the final diagnosis. Regardless, I am happy she gave Iann life, and happy he is ours.

Here are some pictures of the 3 party's we had for Iann since we got him: his first, second and third birthday party's :)

At Iann's first birthday, it just so happened that my sister and her family were visiting from England, and Jon's parents were here from AZ, so we had a big, family party.  Both boys look so little!!!

In Korean culture, the kids wear traditional Hanbok's and Iann's foster mum sent one for both Brynn and Iann to wear on Iann's first birthday.

For Iann's second birthday we had friends come over for a water and cupcake party:

And for this years birthday, we had all the same people, with water and cupcakes again!!! 

 Next year, it is likely that we'll do the same thing again!!! What's the saying? Why fix something that isn't broken? :)

Brynn's Karate Test

Brynn took his first karate test a week ago Friday. He has now been taking karate for just over 3 months, and he had to know the various kicks, blocks and punches (called basics) and a 'kata' - a routine using the basics. At first he didn't want to practice at home, but when Sensei (his instructor) told him he'd never make it to black belt without practicing at home he really worked hard. I wasn't sure if he would ever remember the whole thing, but he knew all the moves a few weeks before the test and so was able to work on his stance, strength etc. Unfortunately the video I took of him doing his kata it too long to upload.

While we haven't had the official word if he passed or not, Sensei taught Brynn the kata he'll need to know for his next test today, so we are assuming that he passed!

Iann just loves watching Brynn do his karate and is trying to imitate him. Here they are doing karate kicks together:

Iann has two 'words' ...

WOOOOHOOOOO :)

Iann's OT, LL, has been bringing all sorts of animal toys for him to play with. since animal noises are some of the first sounds kids can make. On Tuesday she told me that he consistenly said "MMMM" when asked "What does a cow say?" And he's kept on doing it :) That's 'word' number one.

The other word is 'Elmo.' It's not totally clear and you may not understand what he's saying unless it's in context, but it's clear as day to us. The first time I heard it was on Monday afternoon, when I asked Brynn to go downstairs and put Elmo on for them to watch. Iann got very excited and headed towards the stairs, saying his version of 'Elmo.' On Tuesday evening at the dinner table, I got him to say what a cow says for Jon, and then pointed to his fork and asked "Who's that?" Sure enough he said "Elmo." Jon was amazed and we're so excited. I've been working to get him to identify Elmo as a character in books, DVD's and a toy we have and he's got it :)

After 'moo' and 'Elmo' the sky's the limit. Bring on the words:)

The school/guest room

As promised yesterday I have pictures of the school room to share. I just finished putting the calander together and clearing off the bed :)

The first picture is from the doorway:

Brynn sits in the bean bag while I read history or from the read aloud book, and while he is reading to me.

 To the right of the door, is our calander. I got these things from Target, and just added velcro to the calander and the numbers so I could move them for each month:

Here is Brynn sitting at his table, doing his handwriting:

I sit next to him on the other little chair, which really isn't too comfortable, so I usually get up and do something in another room while he's doing handwriting - I need to stretch!

On the wall above the table are 2 more Target finds: a schedule which shows what we need to cover each day, and the alphabet in cursive ...

Lastly, Brynn has just started to enjoy playing with lego, Batman figures etc but he doesn't want Iann with him when he's doing it, since Iann tends to step on everything and "ruin it." So Brynn goes into the school room to play with these things, and shuts the door. While Iann is learning not to go into that room, the important word in that sentance is 'learning.' :)

And that, dear friends, is our school/guest room.