The things we do.

Hi. I'm Marci. Nice to meet you. No, I've been here before. It's just been awhile. There's this thing that happens - it's called "two kids" and "working mom" and "not taking a shit without someone coming into the bathroom with you."

In other words, life happens.

But I'm back, and it's really only because I'm taking tomorrow off. My mom is sick - pneumonia sick - but getting better now. She can't take care of Emma right now, and occasionally will have panic attacks or breathing attacks and needs someone with her all day, so I'm taking tomorrow off so I can do that. Which means that tonight I have time to bring my lovely bloggy friends up to date on all the excitement that is my life.

Alex started Tae Kwon Do a few weeks ago. It was rocky to begin with. Like, so rocky that when Scott took him one night he came home so pissed off at our adorable little snot of a son that he kicked Alex's binoculars and broke them. (They weren't on his face at the time, they were on the floor.) Which is SO out of character for my easygoing, nothing-bothers-him kind of a husband that it should tell you how frustrating Tae Kwon Do started out.

So we take Alex to his first couple of weeks of lessons and each time I'm getting more and more discouraged. Alex can't focus. So the half hour lesson is nothing but Alex running around at random, falling down all over the place (on purpose), giggling, talking out, turning around and looking at everything but the Master, running up to the mirror and putting his hands and face all over it, all while being 100% oblivious to the other kids in the class and how they are behaving.

This continued for 4 weeks. Each time I would try something else to see if it would help. We tried getting him to bed earlier and letting him sleep later. I tried taking dairy out of his diet. I tried rewards. I tried punishments. FINALLY I hit upon something that worked, and it worked at both lessons this week. Get this:

1. Make sure Alex is in bed by 7:30 the night before. If possible (and Scott is either driving in or working from home the next day) let him sleep as late as he can (which usually is not later than 7).
2. Get him dinner before the lesson. Since we have to head there directly from daycare, I go by Burger King, get him a hamburger with no ketchup (we're avoiding red dye this week), apple slices and milk (NOT chocolate, we're avoiding sugar as much as possible).
3. Get him a small treat of some sort and state what he must do to earn it. (No falling down tonight. No climbing on the punching bags. Etc, etc.) The kids meals make this easy - I just use the toy from the meal.
4. Clarify the expectations and consequences. If he climbs on the punching bags, touches the mirror or windows, or falls down on purpose, he immediately gets pulled out of the lesson for a one-minute time out. If he makes it through the lesson with less than 3 corrections for these behaviors, he gets his treat.

I don't know which of these things made the difference this week, or maybe it was all of them, but he had two awesome lessons in a row. He's catching on to the Master's instructions, he's learning the forms, and he's getting better. Holy crap, he's getting better. But damn, is this hard work.

After trying soccer last summer and failing miserably, I'm feeling a little better about this. I'm thinking organized sports might not be Alex's thing, which is totally cool with me - neither Scott nor I played sports after elementary school. I was involved in other things like piano, singing, ballet, gymnastics, swimming, horseback riding, etc. Alex is in dance, gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do, all of which utilize the strength he has (his energy and large-motor skills) and expend it in a constructive manner.

I'm happy with this so far. As long as he's happy with it, we'll continue. More activity certainly isn't going to hurt my hyperactive, energy-to-spare child. And giving him something to celebrate can't hurt either - he was so proud of himself after his lessons this week. Another little boy, the best in the class, came up to me afterward and said very sweetly, "Alex did really good tonight." I almost cried.

It's the little things. :-)