Wins and Losses.

The past few days have been a rollercoaster of emotions.

My son was so excited about taking karate classes. We signed him up for a 2-week trial. He had a pretty good experience last week, and when he asked to go again yesterday, I was so happy. He found something he liked! He has never, in his almost 7 years of life, asked for a class before a few weeks ago. (Awesome, right? Progress!)

So he went to class.

It was a DISASTER.

I literally picked my son up off the mat half way through the class. While the 3-5 year olds were happily following the instructor's lead at punching and kicking, my 6 year old (who I placed in that class because I thought it would fit him better) was rolling on the floor.

The walk of shame wasn't as hard this time. I have grown a thicker skin. The greater disappointment was that he liked it, but was unable to do it. Sometimes it's so hard to not get frustrated when it seems so simple.

 My daughter had her class, and then we left. As we were leaving, the instructor chased us out. Imagining what the ensuing conversation would be, I immediately assured her, "Don't worry, I won't bring him back. I know it was awful." She spent the next 5 minutes telling me she would love to work with him 1:1 until he can handle a group class, and asking me questions on how to reach him better. I was stunned that her reaction was so far from my expectation.

My son has also been begging for gymnastics classes. My daughter takes classes at a local gym, so I asked there. I was surprised to find out that they have never worked with any special needs child before. I was equally surprised when he offered to do a trial class to see if my son liked it and they could work with him.

After yesterday's karate fiasco, I was dreading today. I had to send him with my husband to his class, so I had to keep texting him to see how it was going.

Guess what?

He did AWESOME. He loved it.

I guess when your kid finds something they love, you just know.

I'm crossing my fingers he stays interested in gymnastics. It is so great that he wants to do something. We're still considering the 1:1 karate lessons, because he seems to like it, but is just unable to handle the class right now.

The wins this week definitely outweigh the losses. And I'll be (really) happy with that.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Katie is a mom to two awesome kids, Grace and Graham. Graham also happens to have autism. When not blogging at Hopeful Parents, Katie blogs at Okay, Who Turned Out the Lights?