TKDMom and boys

By the time I get to KumDo class with Jacob and Robbie, I've had about enough of loud voices, fart jokes, and talk about computer games. Jacob's been over at our house since after school, and both boys are wound up.

We pull into the parking lot about 6:30 and the boys pile out of the car, running and yelling. I sag out of the door and see Brian. He's there with his bag, ready to work on forms with me--I guess he managed to get off work a bit early. The boys bound past him, yelling.

"I've had about enough of testosterone-based life forms," I tell him. I'm feeling a bit tired of being a mom of boys.

When the boys run past the other Brian, Brian A., who's there with his kids, I again apologize.

"Yeah. Boys can be a handful," says Brian, glancing at his son.

"They're a pain," says Michelle, his daughter who's about 9. "But," she says with a smile, "they ARE amusing."

A girl after my own heart!

"Yes, they are," I agree. "And I'm easily amused, so I guess our set-up is OK."

There are only three boys at sword class, so there's plenty of room for Brian and me to go through forms.

"What do you want to do?" he asks.

"Let's go through all of them," I say.

We'd gone through all the forms at a class Monday with Justin. It wasn't particularly instructive to do that, though I did learn that I do forms much more slowly than most of the people who lead them. Most of the adults felt that way. "The kids just race through their forms," everyone was saying.

So tonight, Brian and I go backwards through the forms, starting with Palgwe 4. It's very helpful--we stop when we get stuck and look things up in his print outs, and then go through each one until we remember.

I think that if we were to work together at a test, between us, we could probably remember all of them!

Meanwhile, the boys are having a bit of trouble concentrating on sword class. I think part of it has to do with us being there. It doesn't distract the boys so much as it distracts Master Hughes, who comes over to chat with us while the boys take breaks! Still, he manages to get everyone concentrating somewhat, and he gives them encouraging words about focus.

Jacob seems to be having trouble taking instruction. It's probably just that he hasn't had any kind of class in a physical activity in a while. He wants to comment on the instructions that Master Hughes gives, and it sounds like backtalk. Sometimes I suppose it is. I hope he catches on soon!

I hope that I'll be able to use these Thursday nights for some forms practice. I may not be able to go through my forms every day like Heidi and Aimee do, but doing them one extra time a week has got to be good.