Show a Thon 2009 (no fear and conquering fear)

This past weekend the girls dance/arts school had their annual Show a Thon.

This is a fund raiser the school does every year where the kids (and adults) perform in the middle of the local mall for 7-8 hours (some folks only perform once, some perform many times).

Teeny is in a pre-ballet class and they were performing their adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood. She had NO fear at all and her only complaint was that they didn’t get to spend enough time on the stage (the actual quote was, “all that waiting around for nothing”).

Here is her performance

Nana on the other hand was VERY nervous about her performance. She is in a group voice class (think pop star 101) and didn’t realize that solo performance meant she would be on stage alone. While her class did perform two group numbers first, she had to get on stage alone and sing. Based on her body language and comments before the show DW and I were expecting her to not be able to get on stage and make it through her performance.

We were wrong, she came through like a champ (although if you know her you can tell from the video she isn’t the most comfortable).

Here is her performance.

I am in awe of both of them, Teeny for her complete lack of fear and Nana for her conquering of it. I just hope I can learn from both of their examples myself.

The test that really matters

I got beat to the punch by Shevitz Sensei at Aikithoughts, but I still want to talk about this.

Last Tuesday night was testing at the dojo.

This is not an unusual event as we try to let people who are ready test for new ranks every couple of months, however it WAS unusual for me in that it was Nana’s first test as an Aikidoka. She has been training again for a while now and was very ready for her test.

Ready for her test

She went over all the questions she might have been asked, practiced her ki tests and techniques and generally did all the things she needed to in order to get ready for her test.
It showed, she did very well and was calm throughout her test (her only disappointment was that she didn’t get to throw me as part of her test, but maybe next time).

You can see her technique portion here.

She is my little girl and she did exactly what Sensei asks for, she showed her best. What more could I possibly ask for? (well maybe less guff at bedtime, but one thing at a time)

I have told her many times already, but perhaps someday she will read this and remember just how proud I am of her. Not because she passed her test, but because she did her best.

The authors tea party

I was privileged to get to help out yesterday in Nana’s first/second grade class (she is in a split class).

They were having an event that I found to be incredibly fun, an authors tea party. The premise was that the kids would invite a special person in their lives (could be a parent or grandparent, Nana chose her Aunti Vicki) to come and have a tea party with the kids in the class room. During this tea party the kids would show all of the writing that they have done through the year and highlight one specific item for their guest.

They spent time learning how to perform an introduction, how to pass cookies (because what is a tea party without cookies?) and stressed good manners. Since Leigh and I have both volunteered in the classroom the teacher asked if one of use could be there to

1. help set things up
2. stand in for a missing significant other if needed (this teacher thinks of everything)

My help as a stand in wasn’t needed, but it was a lot of fun to watch the kids show off their work and enjoy basking in the glow radiated by their special guest. Some of the comments were pretty funny as well, things like “see this is what I wrote like at the beginning of the year, isn’t it bad?” and others along the same lines were heard all over the room.

After tea was served and the kids had a chance to show off their handiwork, they put on the entertainment for the event. All in all five nusery rhymes were acted out by various groups of kids, complete with props and costumes (Nana informed me that they have been practising for months on these).

It was a great example of why Leigh and I think so highly of Nana’s teacher and a great chance to be a fly on the wall (albeit a very large obvious one) at an event that I will remember for a long time.

A nice quiet evening

Last night was nothing out of the ordinary.

My wife went to a friends for dinner, so I was home with the girls. They had dinner and then we went downstairs to let Nana practice for her choir concert.

I was a little stiff and sore from the weekend so I told her I was going to do a few yoga stretches while she worked on her music and of course teeny had to do them with me (try to talk a 4 year old through downward facing dog, I dare you). It was a lot of fun to listen to Nana while watching Teeny mimic what she thought I was doing.

Then we went upstairs and all curled up on the bed to watch part of The Neverending Story 2.

A bit later got Teeny in bed, read a couple of stories, sang a few songs and then kissed her goodnight after which I read another chapter of our latest book to Nana.

Got her all ready for bed (homework done) and then crashed downstairs to watch BSG on the Tivo.

May not sound too exciting, but it was a good night as I got to spend some quality time with the girls having fun.

What a difference a year makes

I am an Aikidoka and train in Kokiakai Aikido.

I also have 2 daughters current ages 7 (Nana) and 3 (Teeny).

About a year ago I tried to combine the two and Nana started to train with me as a part of our kids class. I never got the feeling she was having fun and she didn’t really seem engaged when we were at the dojo, thus I wasn’t too surprised when she told me she didn’t want to continue with her training. She had stuck with things for about 5 or 6 weeks (which is a good start for a 6 year old) and she didn’t like being sweaty (her reason for not wanting to train).

I tried to do all the supportive things when she chose to stop and definitely did NOT want her training just because “Daddy does Aikido”, nevertheless I was a little disappointed that she didn’t enjoy her training because Aikido has become a very important part of my life and I wanted to share that with her.

Since then she has spent some time with gymnastics (which she would still be doing if we could find a gym that didn’t think a 7 year old should already be shooting for the summer games) and dance (which she did not enjoy).

When she stopped dance, my wife and I told her she had to pick an activity to stay active with. To my surprise she said she wanted to do Aikido again. I must have asked her at least a dozen times if she was sure (I don’t want to be one of those parents who force their kids to adopt their own tastes) just to gauge if this was something she wanted or all she could think of.

She assured me that she wanted to train, so when February rolled around we signed her up and she and I now train on Saturdays together (after which she stays and plays while I train for a couple more hours).

She is LOVING it. When my wife met us after her first session on the mat Nana’s first words were that she made two new friends. She keeps talking about how much fun she is having and asking me to go through some of the warm up routine with her at home. This is a kid who can’t get out of bed for anything, yet I have not yet had an issue getting her up on a Saturday morning to go and train.

Had I tried to force Aikido on her she would never have gone back to training but now she has and hopefully will find something as meaningful as I have. Even if she decides down the road not to continue I have a great training partner for Saturday mornings for a while and we get a little more together time.