Karate Gus

Gus has been going to karate for a while now. It'll be a month tomorrow. We've had a few ups and downs along the way and went so far as to be totally unsure if karate was the right choice for him.

The first couple of classes were hit or miss. However, the one constant thing was Mr. Burns. A few weeks ago, we decided to take Gus to the Saturday class since we had a Build and Grow clinic that same morning, we figured, we'd do karate from 9-9:30 and just head over to Lowe's after for the 10am clinic. The class was a huge mistake.

Not only was Gus not cooperating, but the instructors did not know how to deal with him. Mr. Burns was not there, and Mr. Yu and Mr. Park were the two that ran the class. Their style is so different from Mr. Burns. We left the class feeling unsure if karate was going to work for Gus, and embarrassed by Gus's behavior. They were working on stranger-danger and it was clear that neither instructor wanted to work with Gus one-on-one. :-(

That next Tuesday, we came to class with Gus and Mr. Yu asked to speak to Steve to find out if we had decided to sign him up or not. We had discussed it over the weekend and said we were not comfortable with paying a lot of money for something that we weren't sure was a good fit. Steve told Mr. Yu that we needed more time to decide if Karate Atlanta was the right place for Gus.

After class, Mr. Burns approached us and asked us if he could speak to us in his office. I immediately felt a sense of dread... like he was going to say, "thanks, but no thanks." He had us sit down and asked how we felt Gus was doing in karate. He then said that he liked having Gus in the program and felt that he could handle Gus's needs. We openly discussed how we felt that weekend and like no one wanted to work with Gus. He said that not everyone is capable of dealing with preschoolers, much less preschoolers like Gus. He was saying without saying it, to not bring him when he couldn't be there to teach the class.

He then asked about how we felt about things. We were very honest and said that we think it'd be a great thing for Gus, but it takes time and a lot of patience for them to work with him. We said we felt embarrassed and sad for Gus on Saturday when no one wanted to work with him. Mr. Burns said to never feel embarrassed by what Gus does-- they can handle him and the last thing we should worry about is being embarrassed by who Gus is. He said that he hopes we'll keep Gus coming because he's learning from Gus and Gus is making him a better instructor. Made me like him even more than I already did.

So we decided to sign him up for classes. The week before school started he was having some issues. Last Tuesday (not this past Tuesday) he decided he didn't want to go at all. He threw a fit and then at karate he refused to wear his belt and was crawling under the chairs. It was horrible. Mr. Burns took away Gus's belt. He didn't participate at all and sat out the entire class. Then last Thursday, he crawled around under the chairs for a bit, but eventually came out and participated.

This past week, he started school and I told Steve that we might have to miss this week. He gets up at 5:45am and by 4pm, he's exhausted. Thankfully, on Tuesday he had an okay class. He started off not wanting to take his shoes or socks off, but was able to turn it around and go out and participate. He earned a black stripe for his belt for completing his turtle picture, and he turned in five "High Five Awards" and got another black stripe. However, he didn't have his belt, so couldn't put it on anything. He asked Mr. Burns for his belt back and Mr. Burns said no. Not until a full class was completed.

Then today, I was fully expecting the worse. It's Thursday of the first week back, and the "fun" of going back to school has worn off. I thought for sure that today would be difficult and he'd refuse to go to karate. Hugh had just fallen asleep at 3pm and when Gus came in from school, I asked him about karate. He wanted to go.

So at 3:30 I got Hugh up and we headed to karate. Gus didn't fight at all, went out and sat and waited for the class to begin, and had the best class ever. He was doing such a great job that he got to break a board... TWICE!!

And of course, I have two videos of the boards being broken. (Email subscribers-- there are videos on this post on the actual blog)




I was so happy for Gus today. Not only did he have a great class with full participation, but he earned his belt back, AND got a green stripe for his belt!!! Totally unexpected! He also earned a high-five award!! It was a fantastic class and I hope we've reached the turning point where he'll be enjoying it and wanting to go from now on! He certainly felt good after class and was very proud of himself.

The kids will be testing for their next belts coming up this month. I don't think Gus is ready for his yet. No one has informed us about him testing, so I think he'll be staying right where he is for a bit. I'm okay with going slow... as long as he's having fun and learning each week, we're happy. :-)

Fully Potty Trained

We weren't going to attempt night-time potty-training for a few more weeks, but we ran out of night-time diapers, and I decided we'd just see how it goes. I told Gus that if he woke up and needed to go potty, he could just go right into the bathroom and there'd be a light on in there for him (a night-light). I told him that the first thing that he needed to do when waking up was to go potty. He agreed.

This was all last week, and we haven't had one accident yet (knock on wood). He's been going potty in the middle of the night, and goes first thing in the morning. It's like his body was just ready for all this and it all finally clicked.

It's pretty awesome to not have to buy diapers for him anymore. It's a big thing to be fully potty trained, and I'm thankful that he was able to do it on his terms, and do it when he was ready. There were a lot of times when we tried and it wasn't time, and I'm glad we gave it a break and backed off until he was ready.

Hugh has been showing interest in the potty, but isn't able to tell us that he has to go, and can't pull his pants down on his own yet. So for now, we just celebrate when he'll sit on the potty, and I'm patient and know that when he's really ready, it'll all come together and will be awesome. Just like it has been with Gus.

I'm so proud of him.

He Did It!

 

We've got a white belt in the house!

We weren't sure how karate class was going to go tonight. When we told Gus he needed to get dressed to go, he said no. I didn't feel like fighting over going, and neither did Steve. However, it only took a few times of telling him to get in gear before he did what was asked.

Today was the best class yet for Gus. He really likes Mr. Burns and was eager to give him the homework sheet from Thursday (Gus had to do various things around the house to earn a good report from us). He listened and didn't sit out at all today, which was wonderful!

Gus was super squirmy and active today. We're hoping that with karate, he'll learn to calm down and focus his energy in other ways. We'll see. I do like that the class is led by men (which is nice because men deal with children differently than women do) and Gus is always around female teachers/coaches. It's a nice change for him to have men in charge and leading the way. The class is almost all boys too, which is also nice for Gus.

 

The belts for today... would Gus earn his?!?!?

While we were there today, we were approached by Mr. Yu about scheduling our meeting with him. Today was the last day that Steve would be able to come to class for sure, so I asked if we could meet today, and so we were taken to the back office to discuss the pricing of plans. 

We looked at everything and he gave us a sheet to take home with us with all the pricing on it. Steve and I are 99% sure that we'll be enrolling Gus on a full-time basis, but we need to discuss it more this weekend. For now, he's going with his Groupon (16 classes and a uniform for $30) and we're using up as many of those classes as possible before we decide for sure.

We came out of the meeting and had a few minutes to watch the rest of class. It's only a 30 minute class anyway, so the time really goes by quickly. I do like that it's only 30 minutes though because it's just enough time for him to really focus. If it were any longer, I think it'd be hard for Gus to maintain his behavior and attention.

One of the self-defense skills that they learn at this age is all about strangers. Today, Mr. Burns gathered the kids up and they talked about good strangers and bad strangers and the importance of knowing the difference between the two. He shared that if someone ever approaches the kids, they need to yell "NO!!!" and put their arms out to push the person away.:-)

 

The end of class arrived and it was time for Gus to stand up and get his white belt!! He was so excited and when he finally had it on he said, "This is sooooo cool!!!"  :-D

While we had been in the meeting, Gus earned his second "High Five Award." We are so proud of him and it's exciting to see him starting to enjoy karate!

He's A Fish!!

It's amazing the difference that a week can make. Last Monday was Gus's first swim class and he was super scared of the water, crying, and just not happy. Once he got used to things he was okay... but they still had to stay on top of him and watch him closely.

Today was totally different. He was excited to go to swimming this morning and gladly put on his swim diaper and shorts. When we arrived at Dynamo, he was super excited to go over and sit in the water and wait for class to start. It was like a night and day difference.

He even jumped in the water and went under!!! I was so proud of him today and he was so proud of himself!! Some of the other moms noticed too and were commenting on what a great job he was doing. I also found out that he's the youngest in his group. The rest are all four turning five (the class is for 3-5) so he is smaller than the others and younger than the rest too.

 

Waiting for class to start

 

Patiently waiting his turn on the steps

 

Go Gussy Go!!

 

Climbing the walls... as they sing the "chuga chuga chuga chuga choo choo" song

 

Practicing how to get out of the pool

 

Getting ready to jump in

 

He jumped and went under!!

 

After they jump in, they have to lie all the way back...

 

He did it!!

 

He was excited to watch this little boy jump in and then Gus clapped after he jumped

 

On his back again!!

 

They practice blowing bubbles with their faces into the water... Gus isn't quite ready for that

Overall, I'm so excited that he's taking lessons. He's not able to swim in his own at this point, but he's not afraid of the water and is gaining confidence and will get there. I'm really glad we decided to do swimming this summer!!