Valentine's Day 2017: Books, Tacos & Tae Kwon Do

I like Hallmark as much as the next person.  Actually, I probably like it more.  What I do not like is Valentine's Day, that Hallmark-induced holiday.  I've never really liked it past elementary school with the tiny Valentine's Day cards and chalky heart candies.  The problem with Valentine's is there are such high expectations, much like New Year's Eve.  I mean New Year's Eve is supposed to be this end-all, be-all celebration; it's hard to live up to expectations.  Once, in my early twenties, I was at a party at my friend Joe's parents' house and my friend Susan's sorority sister, Virginia, plummeted (yes, she actually plummeted) from a tree in the backyard.  That was pretty awesome (and funny--Virginia was not hurt).  But it's hard to live up to a party where people plummet from trees and I feel that Valentine's is kind of the same way.  Don't get me wrong--I've had an awesome Valentine's Day.  On Valentine's Day in 2003 Matt, after showering me with flowers and gifts for the previous week, proposed to me.  He set the bar pretty high.  So when I found out Leah had a Battle of the Books preliminary tournament on Valentine's Day, it didn't even bother me.

Battle of the Books (BotB) is like a quiz bowl competition with the questions limited to a pre-announced list of books.  Leah's school had three BotB teams.  Leah team was called the Bookmarkers.  There were about ten books on the list and over the course of "training," Leah read about 75% of them.  The competition was from 5:00-7:00 pm at the local community college and there were about 10-12 teams in total between her school and other nearby elementary schools.  There were four rounds of about ten questions each, with each round becoming progressively more difficult.  Leah's team was at a disadvantage because their fourth team member dropped out about a week before the competition.  All the other teams had four players and one team even had five.

The Bookmarkers:  Ian, Leah and Aliyah

 You may not know this of Leah, and might be surprised to learn but beyond that uber-polite and huggable exterior, deep down lies the heart of a competitor.  Seriously, the girl does not like to lose.  And she does not like it when she cannot master something new after the first try.  And she really, really likes to win.  This BotB was a winner-take-all sort of thing with the winning team only advancing to the next round.  Sadly while the Bookmarkers did well in the first two rounds, the last two rounds separated the herd.  The team that won was in it to win it and even had matching printed t-shirts.  They probably assigned team members books while Leah's team just read whatever they wanted.  (In fact, the boy that dropped off their team was the only one on their team that had read one of the books.)  Remember when I mentioned that Leah really likes to win?  Well, during the later rounds tears were just streaming down her cheeks.  She was so upset as they kept getting answer after answer wrong.  I think it was a combination of fear, frustration, stress and really wanting to win.  The only thing that could console her?  Going to Moe's for dinner.  (I know, you were thinking chocolate and chocolate is the best answer, but it was after 7:00 pm and we hadn't eaten dinner yet.)  After two steak tacos and a chocolate chip cookie, Leah was back to her old self.

Welcome to Moe's!  Nothing says Valentine's Day
dinner like a bunch of tacos.

So that was our Valentine's Day and I was fine with that.  Matt and I did exchange cards.  He was going to get me flowers but I asked him not to because we are now a family of Tae Kwon Do-ers.  Remember when we were signing Leah up for Tae Kwon Do (TKD)?  Well, we did  Then we signed up Aaron.  Then Matt and I decided since we have to be there for all the lessons then why don't we do it too.  The pricing structure is discounted for each additional family member (Matt was actually free) but collectively it's still a chunk of change so that's why I asked Matt not to get me something for Valentine's Day.  We're giving each other the gift of family activity and good health.  And it's really fun.  There are family classes where any belt color can attend and that has quite a bit of adults in it.  There are also white & yellow belt classes and at those classes Matt and I have been the only adults.  At first it was weird, especially when a 10-year-old high-fived me after a kicking drill.  I didn't know how I felt about that.  (My friend Michelle told me I should just take encouragement where I could get it.)  The novelty of us being in the class seems to have worn off on the other kids so they don't even give us a second look anymore.  (The bright side is I am the second tallest person in the class.  That never happens.)  So we are all working towards our yellow belts and we'll see where it goes from there.  It is really fun and I love that it's something we can all do together instead of Matt and I sitting on the sidelines during some random sporting practice or game that Leah and Aaron are doing.  And I love that Leah and Aaron are doing a sport.  And isn't Valentine's Day supposed to be about love anyway?  💖

As Aaron likes to say,
"Let's Tae Kwon Do this!"

My Shining Stars

February has been a great month in school so far for Leah and Aaron and I feel I need to take a moment to share their accomplishments because they deserve the praise.

In a ceremony on February 2, Leah was named Student of the Month for the month of January for the theme of fairness.  There was a ceremony in the cafeteria where each student winner (one from each class in every grade) shook hands with both the Principal and Vice-Principal while the guidance counselor read aloud what each child's teacher submitted.  Leah's teacher, Ms. Samuelson, wrote this about Leah:

Congratulations Leah for being chosen as our student of the month for fairness!  Leah is a great advocate for fairness in our classroom.  She has a great sense of what is right and wrong and is always willing to stand up for herself and her classmates.  Leah is a role model in our class when it comes to fairness!  Keep up the good work, Leah!

In addition to Student of the Month, Leah was just named Captain of the safety patrols and she was chosen to participate in the Virginia Beach All-City Orchestra Festival.  She was the only cellist from her school chosen.  Leah always does well but this month she's knocking it out of the park.

Leah, our outstanding citizen!

Aaron is having an awesome February as well although as I am always telling Leah, fair is not always equal and Aaron's benchmarks are different from Leah's.  Leah says she doesn't like school but I secretly think she does.  Aaron says he doesn't like school and I tend to believe him.  I think he is partially bored, partially over-confident of his ability to pick things up quickly and, well, Aaron being Aaron.  As a result, Aaron's behavior in school can be challenging and the way it is addressed is by goal setting and visual reminders.  Every morning, Aaron sets a reward goal he can earn at the end of the day for good behavior.  His choices can include computer time, Legos, drawing, reading, puzzles or free time.  His behavior is measured on a scale of Jedi levels (as in Star Wars).  He starts every morning as a Jedi Youngling and if he reaches Jedi Master or Jedi Council Member by the end of the day, he can earn his reward to spend his time at the very end of the school day.  If Aaron earns Jedi Master or Jedi Council Member every day for a whole week then in addition to his daily rewards, he earns a prize like a Lego mystery mini figure, a Minecraft mystery box or a Hot Wheels car.

Aaron's Jedi Behavior Scale.

Last school year started off just dreadful for Aaron, but by the last couple months he was regularly earning his weekly prize for making Jedi Master all week (which was the highest score at the time).  This year has been better than last year overall, but inconsistent scale-wise.  His teacher this year has implemented a "Glows and Grows" tool to help Aaron visualize his strengths and weaknesses and take ownership of his actions.  "Glows" are things he has done well or positives during his day and "Grows" are things he needs to improve on, or the negative actions he has done that day.  Aaron and his teacher review the Glows and Grows after lunch and at the end of the day.  Aaron has not only made Jedi Master or Jedi Council Member every day this month, but for the past two days Aaron has had all Glows and no Grows, which is a first for him.  We are super-proud of him, as are his teachers, but I think he is proud of himself too.

Aaron with his first-ever "no Grows" day.

Leah and Aaron are working hard and we're happy that they are seeing the rewards of their efforts.  Sometimes a mom just has to brag a little.