Sorry it took me so long to get back to blogging! The picture from exam night tells the story. He got the yellow belt. I think (and his instructor agrees) he would have had a red, but the one thing we didn't have him practice was how to recover from a mistake. I don't know if he was nervous or what, but during one form he made a turn backwards and he stopped, trying to figure out what he had done wrong.
You just don't stop. You keep going and make it look like you MEANT to do it that way. He had never flubbed up in class, so we never had to pound that into him.
But he was a good, strong yellow performance. Rick and I were so proud of him, and he looked so happy as he went down the line of instuctors with the other students who had been promoted, accepting handshakes and hugs from them all.
Then they all sat down, and the two students (one child, one adult) were chosen for the Outstanding Achievement trophy. Since Charlie is over 13, he counts as an adult. You should have seen the look of SHOCK on his face after the head instructor presented the child's trophy to some kid and then Charlie's teacher was asked to come up and present him his trophy. He just doesn't seem to understand how remarkable it was that he tested a full cycle early and still turned in a strong performance.
What's funny is that he never told anyone at school. When I went to his IEP meeting a couple of weeks later, I said something about the trophy to his teacher, and she got a look of shock on her face. "Trophy? What trophy? He didn't tell ME about any trophy! Can he bring it to school???" For some reason, he refused to take it to school and show it off. Modesty? Dunno.
Great job--We love ya, Charlie Chan!
You just don't stop. You keep going and make it look like you MEANT to do it that way. He had never flubbed up in class, so we never had to pound that into him.
But he was a good, strong yellow performance. Rick and I were so proud of him, and he looked so happy as he went down the line of instuctors with the other students who had been promoted, accepting handshakes and hugs from them all.
Then they all sat down, and the two students (one child, one adult) were chosen for the Outstanding Achievement trophy. Since Charlie is over 13, he counts as an adult. You should have seen the look of SHOCK on his face after the head instructor presented the child's trophy to some kid and then Charlie's teacher was asked to come up and present him his trophy. He just doesn't seem to understand how remarkable it was that he tested a full cycle early and still turned in a strong performance.
What's funny is that he never told anyone at school. When I went to his IEP meeting a couple of weeks later, I said something about the trophy to his teacher, and she got a look of shock on her face. "Trophy? What trophy? He didn't tell ME about any trophy! Can he bring it to school???" For some reason, he refused to take it to school and show it off. Modesty? Dunno.
Great job--We love ya, Charlie Chan!
