Marty's get-up for 2011 Halloween parties

Just came back from buying my son's get-up for this year's halloween season.

As of this writing, he'll be attending two parties.  One on their school and

the other at Rockwell with his cousins. 

For their school's halloween spooky event, he'll portrait a classical vampire

kid.

For the Cirque du Rockwell event, he'll be wearing a clown attire. 

All these costumes were from Toy Kingdom.  The clown costume for 899PHP

and the classical vampire for 599PHP. 

My son's Taekwondo Protective Gears

Had been off from blogging due to my new Saturday bonding with my son Marty.
After his Kumon in the morning, I am a stage mother on his Taekwondo lessons
in the afternoon.

Last Saturday, we bought his Kix Taekwondo protective gears after several
sessions of borrowing gears from his team mates during their sparring sessions.

I was surprised with the price of these gears. From all the sports houses we've
checked, these are available only on a per individual purchase.

Its very important that you fit the gears when buying and try to do some kicks,
punches and forms to check if you can move comfortably and properly with
the gears.

My son's uniform called Dobok.

Here are my son's Taekwondo protective gears which we bought from
Sports Central and Toby's.  Prices are the same from these two stores.

1. Head Gear - protection from head kicks

2. Chest Protector - hogu is essential for sparring.

3. Groin Guard - for taekwondo tournaments you need to wear your
    groin guard underneath your dobok.

   Male groin guards have more of a cup shape. And female
   groin guards are flatter.

   To put your groin guard on step into it. The elastic goes round
   your waist and round the back of your legs to hold it in place.

4. Shin Guards - protects the front of your shins.
   Make sure they're not too long. You need to be able to bend your
   ankles and knees fully.

5. Arm Protectors - When you block a kick they help protect the
    bone running down the outside of your forearm (your ulna).

Other equipment which are still optional but required when you join
sparring tournaments: Face Shield, Mouth Guard, Sparring Shoes,
Foot Protectors.

He also has Kick Pad to practice focus, strenght and speed in kicking.

Loving Ace Water SPA

It was our second time in Ace Water SPA in its QC branch last Oct. 9 and the want
of going back there if budget permits always holds true. Again, we availed of the
discounted price offered by CashCashPinoy group buying site.

The Family enjoyed the different massage systems while my Marty loved going
around the lazy river.

However, the sad part is that their complimentary soup was discontinued since
Sept. 1.  We just ordered their seafood chowder soup to at least ease the
coldness inside. Along with their fish and potato chips, shrimp popcorn and
brewed coffee.

Just hoping that other complimentary items such as shampoo, soap, cotton
buds, lotion, etc. will remain.

The Family finds it really relaxing after a week of stress-full activities from the
office and school.

Kumon Chronicles of my son - moving up to Reading 2A level

After 2 months, Marty will now start his Reading 2A level.  He just perfectly
passed the 3A Achievement Test and is now ready for the next level.

 

Some of Marty's spelling exercises after book reading in Kumon.

In Reading 2A level, he is expected to learn and understand sound parts
within words, use nouns, verbs and adverbs in sentences.  He will also
aim to read passages of up to 50 words within one minute. 

Skills and benefits of level 2A: It prepares your child for the Sentence
Building Block through the development of independent reading, writing,
and spelling skills.  Your child will be introduced to nouns, verbs, and
adjectives, and begin to learn how parts of speech function in a
sentence. Your child will learn singular and plural forms of nouns and
verbs as well as comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.
The stories and poems at the end of this study level were carefully
selected to reinforce the material covered and to enhance your child's
desire to read.

Taekwondo @5

My son Marty is quite not like typical kids of his age who are very playful
in school.  When I say to him that its fine to play with his classmates, he
always tell me that "study only in school, and not playing".  Yeah, he is so
timid, sluggish on some of their physical activities and often times works/plays
alone.  Maybe his weight also contributes to his slow moving sometimes.

So when his school offered Taekwondo again, we did not think twice to
enroll him.  Aside from it is being translated as "the art of kicking and punching",
it is a good sport, exercise, and also a form of self-defense.

It was last Sept. 10 when he officially joined their school's Taekwondo Club.
After their 1st module with 6 sessions as white belter, Marty has loose weight and
became quite active on his physical activities.  He is now developing his stamina,
speed, and power in every kick or punch he throws.  As I observe, this sport and
martial art, is also developing control and discipline in my son. And most of all,
he has another group of friends he is enjoying with every session aside from his
class.

Their Taekwondo is every Thursday and Saturday which allows me and
my husband to enjoy watching his kicks and punches.

I just hope that we'll be able to sustain this sport for him as he is very
serious to learn in every session.