...Blue Belt...

...on the evening of the first day of school...

...Scout bowed in as a green belt...

...and after all the Katas and Kihons and Wazas...

...at the end of class, he tied on a new Blue Belt...with a big ole proud smile on his face...

...This test was quite a confidence booster for him...as we had been gone for 4 weeks of classes out of the summer (Wilderness - VBS - and Family Vacation)...so when we got back last week and they announced the test for this week...Scout immediately said that he didn't want to test - he didn't feel ready...but we talked about his feelings...we don't want to push him to do something that he really doesn't want to do...and we studied the Japanese words - that's a big part of the test as all the commands are given in Japanese...the student responds to the command with the word 'Hai' which means yes and signifies that he understands the command...if the student doesn't respond the command is just repeated...sometimes it takes a few repeats for it to sink in...anywhooo...after Scout felt more comfortable with the vocabulary...he thought he might be ready to practice his katas...so we looked them up on You-Tube (I love You-Tube)...and he practiced right here in my office...and some with the TV in the living room - using You-Tube on the Wii (I love the Wii too)...and in the end...he did just fine...