Valentine's Day

Holidays are always fun times to do anything that might be a little different to mark the occasion.  It doesn't have to be anything big either, that's what's so fun.  I actually think it's the little things that can make a holiday a success.  All this is of course for Emma's benefit.  Valentine's Day has never been a holiday that I've put much stock into.  I just don't care about it that much.  I don't need Eric to spend hundreds of dollars on a new diamond whatever for me, and I don't need ridiculously over-priced flowers (which are marked up just for the holiday) or chocolates (trust me, our home is never short on chocolate).  Eric is an amazing man and I truly feel blessed to be able to share my life with him.  He does so many wonderfully kind and selfless things all throughout the year for me that I wouldn't be able to document them all if I tried.  I have told him numerous times, specific to this holiday, that I didn't expect him or even really want him to worry about doing much, if anything, for me.  And I further clarified that I actually meant that - it wasn't a wife trap.  He knows I would likely be upset if he spent lots of money on some trivial thing for me just because of a holiday that says he should.  Now this is not to criticize anyone else for feeling different about this holiday or for buying and receiving gifts (of any value).  This is simply how I feel.  Typically the most we ever did (before Emma came along), was have a nice dinner (at a restaurant or at home - didn't matter), and just spend time together.  Not much changed after Emma was born.

This year, because of busy schedules etc, it took us over a month to actually celebrate our anniversary (which is in early January), and we ended up celebrating a week before Valentine's day.  I told Eric we should just count it for both our anniversary and Valentine's day.  Easy peasy.

Kids change everything.  And while I don't care much about the holiday, I still want to make it a fun and special day for Emma.  Anything to break up the norm, even a little.  So I painted her nails pink the night before with little red hearts on them.  We put a heart in her hair (which almost didn't work - her hair is too short!), and she chose a heart themed outfit, with socks that almost matched.  When she came out of her room in the morning she found a couple balloons and some goodies from us (just some candy and treats and her favorite chap stick).  Then I made her pink heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.

You can see some of the goodies she got on the bench next to her.  I have no idea why she pulling that face.

That evening we had a nice dinner at home with Emma's favorite chicken dish and some rice.  We lit some candles and played some nice music and used our fine china.  Eric did bring a few flowers home for us (some for me and some for Emma), which he always does, but they are not expensive ones.  Just simple ones.




After dinner we played some Mah-Jongg, which my family has played since before I was born.  We recently taught it to Emma and she is now obsessed with it.

Another TKD Tournament

Last Saturday we were able to go to another taekwondo tournament for Emma.  Her first tournament she participated in two events.  This time she wanted to do three.  She competed in Form, creative weapons, and sparring.  It is always so fun to watch her and all the other kids, but it's even better when Emma does so well.  I'm so proud of how hard she works at this, and you can tell she loves it.  She seems very grounded when it comes to these competitions.  She obviously would like to come in first place every time, but she knows that's not what's most important.  Her real goal is to do her best and to have fun.  And I wouldn't want it any other way.

One of Emma's strengths is her form.  She works really hard at being crisp and deliberate with her movements.  I love watching her do it.  This performance won her first place!  I should add that at the end of the video Emma just stands there for several seconds.  This is because the form ends at this point, but Emma forgot to look at the judges to let them know she was done, so they weren't sure.  It was kind of funny.

The new event for this tournament for her was creative weapons.  This is where you create a routine that shows your skill with one of the weapons.  She chose Ssahng Jeol Bongs (pronounced sahn-je-bons), but you probably know them as nunchucks.  Since taekwondo is Korean in origin, they use the Korean names for their weapons.  Anyway, she worked on creating her routine, and then performed it almost flawlessly.  And this performance won her first place in this event too!

Her final event was the sparring.  She easily made it past the first round, almost sweeping her competitor.  In this video Emma is the one with her back to the camera.

In the second round, she was unlucky in whom she was paired against.  She was paired against a kid who lives for martial arts.  He participates in just about every type there is, and is very good at all of them.  She gave it her all, but in the end lost the round.  Had she been better at her blocking, she probably would have won though.  When Emma goes to kick her opponent, her arms and hands often move to the side instead of staying in front of her continuing to block attacks.  Her opponent was able to very quickly get punches in barely before Emma's kicks made contact, which means he won the point.  We've told Emma she does this (forgets to block while kicking), but I think experiencing it and seeing the video from the tournament will help her realize even more she's doing it.  She plans to work on this.  In a way I'm glad she lost the round and is now able to see this, because I think in the long run it'll help her improve more.  So in that sense, maybe she wasn't unlucky in being paired against this kid. She ended up winning third place in the sparring.  I think she was just happy still getting a medal for it. In this video she is the one facing the camera.  And if you pause it right at the 1:52 / 1:53 second mark, you'll be able to see the final point scored against her, but a good example of how her opponent snuck a punch in barely before she kicked him.  You'll see her hands out to the sides.

As I said, I'm so glad that Emma has a good attitude about these competitions.  I'm glad she has a chance to lose too.  I think it's character building for kids to need to strive for excellence rather than always being handed an award or trophy just for participating.

Here she is receiving her medals from the judges.  Afterwards she just couldn't keep the smile off her face.  She was so proud of herself.

On our way home we ran a couple errands.  We went into the first store and not two seconds after we entered Emma professed that "It's really hot in here.  I think I'll unzip my coat."  She only wanted to show off her three medals she was still wearing.  I think it's hilarious that she was obviously planning to unzip her coat and show off, but tried to make it seem so nonchalant.  I love my silly girl!