Tae Kwon Do and Orange Belt!

This past week was a very exciting week for Jake, he tested for his orange belt in Taekwondo!  As I went to make a post about that, I realized I had never done one about him starting taekwondo, woops!  So, let's rewind to the middle of August.  Some of our friends at church own a "Karate for Kids" gym in Murphy.  They are wonderful people and have blessed our family and several others from church by offering classes at a discounted rate, like hugely discounted.  There is no way we would be able to afford this for Jake right now without this amazing blessing and we are so grateful to them. 

 

So in mid-August, Jake and Stephen went to watch a class to check it out.  Jake thought it was awesome and they signed him up for the trial period.  He came home with his own gee, which he thought was super awesome. 

 

We went for his first class. He is in the 'Tiny Tigers' group, which is ages 4-6.  He was super excited in the car, but in typical Jake fashion, he was super shy and unsure when it came time for class to start.  He didn't want to join the group and was just sitting on the side watching.  Then our amazing friend, Jack, aka Master Hornbuckle came over to him and got him up doing some things one on one. 

 So thankful for his patience and for working with Jake.  After that first lesson, he was hooked!

So there are classes for his age group every day, but we go Mondays and Wednesdays after school right now.  It's a little hectic those days, but fun too.  So in taekwondo, they measure your progress by putting stripes on your belt.  Once you have three stripes, you are ready to test for you next color belt.  After about a week and a half, Jake got his first stripe, yay!  Sorry the pic is blurry, it's hard to take a good picture and hold Cody.

 One stripe!

Jack had told the boys that the second stripe was one of the hardest to get and it took almost another month, but he finally got it!

 

Here is video of him working on his second stripe

and then a few weeks later came stripe number 3!  He was ready to test for his orange belt!

 

 

I really wasn't sure what to expect as far as how testing worked.  Pretty much everyone in Jake's class was testing up to the next belt.  I was picturing each child being tested individually, that's what they did when he got his stripes, they would pull the students off to the side and 'test' them.  Belt testing was different, each belt level tests together, going through the required blocks, combinations, etc.  Then, they tested them individually on their self defense moves.  One thing we love is that this gym goes beyond just tkd moves and teaches the kids self defense techniques, anti-bullying training and leadership skills.  It's incredible! 

 

So here are pictures from belt testing, it was crazy crowded and I didn't always have the best angle for pictures, but in some you can see Jake clearly by looking in the mirror.

 warming up with Mr. Linkletter

 listening position

 practicing their '9-man sequence'  Jake is pretty much in the middle of this shot.

 

 Jake is the second kid's head from the left...you can see his face in the mirror

 Jake on the far left, they are doing sparring combinations

 you can see Jake in the mirror

 sparring combinations...Jake is the third child from the front of the row

 Self-defense work with Ms Martin (she's a world champion!)

  listening position while the other colors test

 white belts lined up to receive their orange belts!

 I was so bummed, because I could not get a clear shot of Jake receiving his belt :(  It was really cool, the instructors remove their old belts and tie their new ones on them.  So the instructor in the middle is giving Jake his orange belt, you just can't see him.

 The belts have stickers with their names on them and other labels.  It was too funny because they put the stickers on all the kids faces.  They were all looking around to see how silly everyone looked.

 Jake getting his new DVD that goes along with orange belt techniques

 Mr Linkletter addressing the class

 Congratulations speech from Mr Linkletter

 Our new orange belt!

 So the big bummer in this was that belt testing was on a JV game night and Stephen missed it.  It was rough, but we know that this is part of the life of a coaching family.  We are super proud of you Jake and can't wait for more belt testings!

Here are some videos from belt testing

 

 



Cody is 7 months old

Happy 7 months Cody Glenn!

 

 

 This month's photo shoot was fun because all Cody wanted to do was play with the blanket on his rocking chair.  He is into everything and getting him to 'pose' for pictures isn't as easy as it used to be :)

I went back a few days ago and was reading over Jake's blogposts from this age.  Poor Cody, Jake's posts were so detailed and long with tons and tons of pictures and video.  I thought I was doing a decent job of keeping up with Cody, but in true second child fashion, he just isn't getting the same  attention.  In my defense, it is football season and Stephen is a varsity coach now as opposed to the 7th grade coach he was when Jake was a baby, he is gone so much more...and having Jake in kindergarten, with homework and extra-curricular activities...there just isn't much time for blogging.

 

Back to Cody-man, so much has happened this past month, I just don't have tons of pictures to go with it. 

 

We said good-bye to the carrier carseat.  The weight limit was 22 lbs and Mr. Chunky Monkey is well passed 23, so we got the convertible carseat out and installed.  This one fits him so much better and I can tell Cody is a lot more comfortable in it.

He is riding in grocery carts!  This was the big milestone I was waiting for to get rid of the carrier carseat.  He loves going grocery shopping and smiling at all the people we see.  He is such a friendly little guy.

Cody has a fun little trick he does when he is taking a bottle, he sneaks his thumb/finger in with it...every time! 

 Cody LOVES having fresh fruit in the little mesh feeders.  So far I have given him apples, peaches, bananas, and strawberry.  He did NOT care for the strawberry, but he loved everything else. He is on stage 2 baby food and there really hasn't been anything that he doesn't like...shocking, I know.  His favorite veggies are still carrots and green beans.  He had apple-blueberry mix yesterday for the first time and went nuts, so maybe that's a new favorite.  I have also given him teeny bites of real green beans and he really likes those.  I tried puffs last week and he wasn't too sure about them, but this week he loves them.  I started  by breaking them into thirds, but now he can do a whole puff just fine.  I started with the sweet potato flavor and added peach this week.  He also started raking them up with his fingers into his palm and tries his best to feed himself.  He has gotten it in his mouth a few times all by himself, but a lot of the time they get stuck in his palms.

It's football season and Cody has been showing his love for his favorite teams Da Bears and the Cowboys

 

Some other fun things to remember about Cody this month:
-he is wearing mostly 18 month clothing and size 4 diapers
-he is sitting about 90% of the time.  He will still wobble over if he turns his head to quickly, but he is getting more steady every day. 
-He is all about his toys, picking them up, turning them over, exploring.  It is so fun to just sit back and watch him play and get to see what he is interested in.
-He loves reading books and his two favorites are "I Love You Through and Through" and "Dear Zoo" we read "Dear Zoo" before every nap and at bedtime.  His face just lights up when he sees the cover of either of these books.
-He loves his Daddy and gets so excited at night when Stephen gets home.  I know it's tough on Stephen being gone so much right now as Cody is learning new things every day.
-He still doesn't have a set in stone schedule, but we have a good routine going.  He gets up between 6:30-7:30 in the morning and goes to bed around 7:00-7:30 at night.  He takes 2 naps a day, one around 9-9:30, it can last anywhere from 30 min to 2 hours.  His afternoon nap usually starts around 12:30-1:30, depending on how long his morning nap lasts.  I usually have to wake him up at 2:15 to leave to go pick up Jake, he occasionally wakes up before we leave, but most of the time I try to get him in the car asleep and he finishes his nap in the carpool line.  If we are out an about in the early evening he will fall asleep in the car, but not if we are at home.  He still doesn't like being rocked, so we bounce/walk to help him settle before sleeping.  He gets a paci just at naps/bed.
-Night time sleep is still a work in progress.  Over the past week or so he has started wanting a bottle overnight again, around 2am.  However, he is restless for a while before that time.  Sometimes he can settle himself, but a lot of the time he needs help from me or Stephen.  I thought it was teething at first, but I think it's just the phase he is in right now, learning and doing so much, that he is very restless at night.  I know it will pass, and I'm thankful for a healthy baby boy that I get to cuddle so much each night, but I am also ready for some nights of good sleep consistently.
-His hair has been growing like crazy and is coming in very blonde.  I think his hair is going to be straighter and less coarse than Jake's. 
-He still ADORES his big brother and Jake is starting to have fun playing with him in the afternoons.