12/4 - F putting on chapstick.  Joy recalls, "Last time my lips sting.  Now my lips better."

12/6 - JDD, in a growly voice, with a straw stuck in his teeth and the other end in a glass of water, "I am the savage, saber-toothed mosquito!"

12/6 - JPD upper right primary incisor

12/7 - Noah, "You can use anything for dress clothes.  It just won't look as nice."

12/8 - JPD 9 steps to Mommy

by 12/19 - JPD record 11 steps, and 24 seconds standing up.

12/20 - JDD realizes that the words to Deck the Halls are not "Don we now our gray apparel."

12/23 - I'm upstairs with JPD on toilet.
Joy, "Mommy, come down here."
"Is it an emergency, or do you just want me there?"
"It emerdenee."
[I come down, naked baby on hip, wondering if the cider is boiling over, or what]
"Guy come in here."
[yikes! Don't see anyone, oh, maybe just UPS man]
Then I see our friend on the porch peering in. 

I was very happy with the way Joy handled the situation.  She didn't freak out when she saw someone, but she also made sure I knew it was not just a whim of hers for me to come down.

12/23 - It's all how you look at it.  Joy's take: "That nice day.  My 'pecial time."  It was 32 and rainy as we walked to the bank.  But we found a quarter in the slush, and she got a lollipop at the bank, and we looked at the water pouring into the grates, and she had her special time with Mommy.

~12/25 - JPD upper left primary incisor

1/4 - The fire in the pellet stove went down some, and I looked at the thermometer to see why.  I exclaimed, "It's toasty now!  Seven degrees." Jonathan doubtfully replied, "Negative seven isn't all that toasty..." Me, "No, positive seven!"  JDD, "Oh! That is toasty!"

1/6 - JPD walked 21 feet.

1/11 - The boys had their first karate test. It was very interesting to watch.  For the first rank up, from white to yellow, it is "only" two hours long.  All testers are in the dojo together, and they do much of the same moves at first.  Lots of pushups, jumping jacks, sit ups.  Lots of repetition.  It required concentration and endurance.  It was intense, hard work.  As time went along, I could see red cheeks, sweating brows.  After an hour, the current white and yellow belts got to rest in the meditation position while the upper belts did more advanced work.  However, after a while that turned out to be a test of endurance also.  I think if I stay in that position too long, my feet fall asleep!   They got a water break at the hour mark, and then a few more after that.  Jonathan commented that it wasn't fair that they got more water breaks than the more advanced kids.  But everyone says the test is harder the more advance you are.  Jonathan's concentration and determination never wavered.  Noah did the best I've ever seen him (sometimes he gets sloppy) and he only figeted towards the end.  They did a great job and they earned their yellow belts!  (Sorry about the picture, our camera puts orientation info in it but the blog didn't read it and I do not want to redo it.)

Jonathan and Noah with their yellow belts.

1/12 - JPD went down the kitchen stool steps successfully.  Also that same day, he got down off the bed purposefully by scooting himself backwards, tummy down feet first until he slid off.

He is now definitely a walker.  Still holding his arms up for balance.

1/17 - JPD has a pincer grasp now.

Posted by Heather Daley on January 18, 2014, 8:52 am | Read 7393 times
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Comments

Great, happy post! Congratulations to Jonathan and Noah. And to your dojo, with which I have so far been quite impressed.

Posted by Linda Wightman on January 18, 2014, 9:33 am

Congratulations, yellow belts! And I, too, am impressed with Joy's reaction to the "intruder." Seems like Faith flew under the radar this time, except for using chapstick...

Posted by Stephan on January 18, 2014, 3:56 pm

And by the way, what's the order of colors in karate?

Posted by Stephan on January 18, 2014, 4:05 pm

Hopefully, Faith will make it more onto the next set of pocket notes.

The order of colors varies by type of martial arts and even by school. Theirs go: white, yellow, orange, purple, blue, blue with green stripe, green, green with brown stripe, brown, various degrees of brown, black, various degrees of black.

Their main teacher (sensei) is 4th degree black.

In looking up the colors (I couldn't remember if it was blue with green stripe or green with blue, or where the brown stripe came in) I found some interesting tidbits about it. Shaolin Kempo Karate, founded by Fred Villari. I suspect the criticisms of this type will not matter much to our kids for quite a while.

Posted by joyful on January 19, 2014, 10:58 am

Here's a nice graphic: http://www.louisvillemartialarts.org/shaolin-kempo-belt-levels
Posted by joyful on January 19, 2014, 11:03 am

Wow. I got my own comment marked as spam... That's a first!

Posted by joyful on January 19, 2014, 11:07 am

Yep. Nitpicking from others in the martial arts community (e.g. "Villari did not have the authorization to modify existing systems or tamper with very specific and traditional forms") is not going to matter one bit unless they get very high in competition, if then. Or maybe if you move somewhere where this particular from isn't taught. Both are events with such low probability as to obviate any concern whatsoever.

Posted by Linda Wightman on January 19, 2014, 1:49 pm

I'm sure she will. I know how it is: sometimes I feel our photos or videos are terribly imbalanced. But over time, I think they mostly even out.

Posted by Stephan on January 22, 2014, 4:20 pm
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