Sophie Has Started Karate!

Sophie's first karate class was last Monday (the10th) and she is doing so well so far!!!  I think it's safe to say she loves it!

We had been waiting until she turned four... and then waiting until after swim lessons finished.  But the swim lesson schedule has been complicated so far and seems to be dragging on with large gaps unexpectedly between them.  So last Monday when our usual instructor was on vacation and our good friend, Mike, who owns the karate school, was filling in for the Little Dragons class, we decided to let Sophie join in for the very first time.

After all the sideline viewing over the past almost two years, she finally gets to be out there with her big brother and join in on the fun.  Coincidentally, the kids' cousin Tabor started his first lesson this day too!  Tabor and Sophie are the ones without proper uniforms yet in these pictures and Tabor is not quite four months older than Sophie.

Craig and I were highly impressed with Sophie's natural skill and interest right off the bat!  She followed directions well, stayed quiet and respectful/attentive (which isn't always easy for Sophie) and seemed to really enjoy the exercises.  Her push-up form is awesome!

Sophie's good friend Reese, who is one year younger than her, seemed a little confused at Sophie's suddenly being ON the mats rather than on the sidelines with her, and both Reese's mother and I were worried that one of the girls would constantly be trying to join the other one, either on or off the mats.  But both girls did very well with the transition and that was a relief.  We had thought Reese was going to join Sophie in karate class one day soon (they can start at age three) but alas, Reese will be doing dance classes instead and her mom didn't want to do both.  Reese's brother, Patrick, however will continue to be in class so maybe Reese will change her mind when she sees Sophie out there every week.  As it stands now, Sophie is the only girl in the class.  That's not always the case, but for now it is.

Class #2!  Tonight!  Classes are just half an hour, once a week.  And the fact that the kids are in class together is a HUGE bonus!  Will can stay in this class until age seven and then switch to the older class that meets twice weekly on Tuesday & Thursday.  We'll have to juggle a bit and rethink our game plan at that time, because three nights a week may be more than we want to interfere with dinner and family time... especially during the school year.  But for now, we're sooooo grateful!  This is such great practice and training for good behavior and exercise for both of them and we love our usual instructor!

Look!  Sophie has a uniform now!  Actually, Will just got a new one because his first one was getting small and Sophie got his hand-me-down.  At home, we'd played wheel barrow with the kids before, so Soph was a natural at this.  :)

Waiting her turn for the next drill.

Spotting daddy and me.

Love this response to seeing us.

And earning her second stripe (colored sticky tape on the ends of their belts) for good behavior in class and a good report card from mommy and daddy (a biweekly ritual at class).  After so many stripes, the kids get to get into the treasure chest and eventually test for a new belt.  She's already counting down to both of those things.

And, oh my goodness!  I caught this cute moment during the preparation for bowing out at the end of class.  Soph threw her arm around Will for just a minute and I managed to capture it!

So far so good for our little gal!  This is fun to have two little karate students practicing each week!