Karate Focus and Into Everything

Hunter earned his white belt on Tuesday evening after he completed his first full session of karate. Because we had talked about the importance of listening to the teacher and doing what the teacher says, Hunter made sure to look in my direction every five minutes or so to either wave or give a thumbs up! As a mother watching her son, I felt nervous and proud and giddy all at the same time. As I watched Hunter walk around the large room with the padded floor, I wanted to jump up and help him as I sensed he felt lost and uncertain about what to do next. I stayed put.... He figured it out. As I watched him yell out Choo Be and mimic what his classmates were doing, I cheered (in my brain). I really cheered when Mr. Dingman presented Hunter with his white belt and then proceeded to hug him and follow him over to Chuck E Cheese, a well-earned treat in my opinion! We head to karate again tonight for a second go and probably more Chuck E Cheese games. We don't stay for dinner but we do play at least five games before we head home.

I've made some observations about Mason this week as well. For one, he claps his feet when he is happy and when he is down-and-out angry. He hates his high chair and I now know why. He wants to be on the move at all times. This morning, as Mitch and I drank our coffee and read the newspaper, Mason crawled around the baby-proofed areas of our home, probably in search of anything that might be dangerous and overlooked by his parents. Even as I type this entry, Mason knocked over a lamp. There's no way around having a lamp, as it IS a source of light in the evening, so I don't know what to do about that. Mason is still unable/unwilling to eat anything other than pureed foods and formula. When I give him a cracker (or anything of that nature), he proceeds to gag and then throw up. He threw up after a bit of oatmeal yesterday. The doctor said Mason might not be ready for table food until 12 months which is completely fine.

Mason and Hunter are bonding as brothers more and more everyday. We headed to Bennigans for dinner last night and Hunter was careful to stop everything every once in awhile to give Mason a hug and a squeeze (you'd need to see it to know what I mean). We followed dinner with a trip to Macy's to buy Mitch a new shirt and tie before tomorrow's very immportant SNS presentation. Hunter ran circles around the stroller and made Mason laugh everytime!