31/365

(gym lighting *sucks*...and well, this is the best edit I could do to make it viewable. :( )

Dragged myself out to a karate tourney today. Hilarious, the first thing another mom said to me was "I so don't want to be here right now"...my sentiments exactly! Jones takes karate at lunch hour at school, so it's not an activity that I'm invested in as much as she is, because I never see her do it, really. She also will not show me her Kata at home, because she takes the Sensei very seriously when he says karate is only for the dojo. She will NOT practice at home, ever. So this is the odd time that I actually see what they do, and wow...what a surprise! Jones is quite good at it! She won her category today, out of 7 yellow belts it came down to a tie for first place and she had to do her Kata again in like a show-down sort of thing. The judges voted unanimously for her (I actually thought the other kid was better...but then again...looks like I don't know jack about karate). Although all of us knew she had won, she didn't until they called the other kid up for second place. Her reaction was what you see in the picture above...she stifled a smile and stayed humble about it. Wow. She's really growing up, learning how to lose (skating), and now win (karate), with grace and sportsmanship.