Mighty Mouse

Last week sometime, Lucy's Taekwondo instructor, Master Armour, told me that she believed that Lucy was ready to do another belt test to earn her yellow belt. She said, "Your kids always surprise me, because they're little and new, but they catch on so quick. I never consider them for advance at the same rate as the other kids, but there she goes, being ready." She thought Max needed a bit more time, and I agreed.

So we planned for Lucy to do her belt-test on Saturday afternoon. Tyler stayed home with the boys (so Logan could have a nap) and I got to take Lucy. On a side note, being out and about in the afternoon was a glorious feeling. I can't remember the last time I was out for an afternoon. Because of Logan's nap, I'm usually pretty confined to home for the afternoons. This was beautiful!

When we got there, she was a bit nervous and unsure of what to do and whether she'd remember everything. I kept trying to reassure her that she was going to do just fine, and that she had to do it at her own pace. It was ok if she made mistakes, they just wanted to see that she knew everything, not that she could do it perfectly right away. She has been a bit teary and emotional all week, and that started to manifest itself here as well. Big squeezes and good lucks and I sent her across the room for her turn.

She started with kibbon-a and il-jang and was very nervous about not being as fast as the others in her group. The other kids in her group finished much before her, and when she came back to see me, she was teary eyed again from embarrassment. I reassured her that it was ok to be slower. It wasn't a speed test.


Then she got geared up to practice kicks, which she kicks butt at. Check out this karate kid move! (Taekwondo kid)




After kicks, she got suited up in her protective gear to get ready for sparring. Normally she spars agains Max, so I wondered how she would do at this. There were about 10 kids who stood in a circle, ready to spar. About 4 her size and age, and about 6 that were probably 4-8 years older and much much bigger. She came over to me at one point while they were waiting and was teary eyed again. "They're all so much bigger than me!" She obviously hadn't heard when Master Armour had explained that they would only be sparring against kids their size. She was relieved to find that out. The kids that were her size were all boys though, so I thought, "how's my sweet-gentle Lucy going to fare?" Well, no worries here. She fared just fine! At one point she got someone in the groin and he groaned and fell to his knees. The whole room laughed at the sight of this little girl packing such a kick and Master Armour said, "That's why we wear protection!" Way to go Lucy!


She didn't shy away from any of her sparring partners and often sent them running.


After sparring, it was her turn to kick through a board. I had the video camera going, and it was over so quickly that I barely got a shot of it. She made it look so easy!


Finally, they got to work on self-defence, which was practicing their blocks when someone else is attacking. Again, she did awesome. Firecracker!


Once everyone was done, they all lined up to receive their new belts.

They had to remove their old belts

Go and talk to Master Amour. Master Armour asked Lucy if she watched cartoons at all, to which she responded, "Not really." Master Armour then said, "you go and tell your mom and dad that you are Mighty Mouse, and they'll know what that means." I explained to her later that Mighty Mouse was really really small but really really strong, and that he used his strength to help people. She liked that.


Then she got her new belt

Her certificate

And all was done.


What an amazing girl! I'm so proud of her. I love how much confidence she is gaining from Taekwondo. She's working on practicing with her brother now so he can prepare for his yellow belt too. She told me on the way home that she wanted to go all the way up to a black belt. I'm totally good with that.

And at Monday's class, she was able to be at the front of the group for line-up, because she had the highest belt in the group that was there. That made her feel pretty proud. She's working her way forward!