Karate Malachi

ter Chi's little incident at school, Justin brought up that maybe we should enroll him into a martial arts school to allow him to have a positive release of his physical side. I thought it was a great idea. Friday we went to ATA Martial Arts and spoke with the owner about registering Chi in a program. He told us that Chi could come in for a trial class and if everyone was happy with it then we could enroll him.

So last night I took Chi down to ATA. He was very shy at first and didn't participate in everything. He looked as though he was embarrassed to do some of the exercises they were doing. I also think that he was timid because he stood out. All of the other children had their uniforms on and he was in sweats. After about 15 minutes, he loosened up and began to join in. I was really proud of him.

I think this school will be very good for him. They are heavy on respect and discipline and enforce the 'yes ma'ams' and 'yes sirs'.

So after his class I asked Chi if this was something he was interested in and I got a huge "YES MA'AM!" So I enrolled him in 6 months worth. He gets to attend twice a week and they have several different days and times, so that is definitely helpful. I am hopeful that this will help Malachi and let him have a whole lot of fun too!

Plus after class and enrollment, Chi got a uniform! This was his favorite part!

Suspended From School!!

I made my way to Chi's school last night excited to see him after almost two days away from me, only to be highly disappointed. One of the administrators needed me to sign a form. It stated that Chi was being suspended from school for two days due to his inappropriate behavior.


Apparently my sweet lil angel thought it would be alright to punch another child because that child was in his spot and would not move. Chi punched another kid square in the nose and made him bleed.

I was very upset, even shed some tears. So many times he has made me feel so proud, this was definitely NOT one of them. I've missed my lil man so much while he was off visiting with his father. It just absolutely kills me to have to be the strict disciplining mother while all I want to do is hold him and love him.

All toys, games, and TV have been banished until he is allowed to return to school. It will be a long weekend.

CHIMAN... I mean BATMAN!!

The Batman Lego game for the Wii was at the top of Malachi's Christmas list this past year. So being the good mother I am, I put a good word in for Chi to Santa and asked pretty please.
Part of me wishes I hadn't. Chi is absolutely addicted!!
When he wakes up, he wants to play Batman. When he gets home from school, he wants to play Batman. When he gets out of the bath, he wants to play Batman. He talks about Batman at school and he talks about Batman in his sleep. I'm sure you get the point.
I told him today that he is limited to one hour per day or he would turn into a potato. He gave me a weird look and immediately disagreed with me. He told me that it is not possible for a person to turn into a potato. Haha! When did he get so smart?

Malachi, The Philosopher

Malachi never ceases to amaze me. I went to Chi's school on Monday to pick him up and had a moment to chat with his teacher, Ms. Tanzy. She told me she had a wonderful story about Chi today that would make me very proud and went on.

Chi's class is studying about black history and they did a class project where all the children dipped one had in white paint and one had in black paint and then were to put all of their hand prints around a large paper heart.

One child did not want to dip his hand in the black paint and actually threw a fit. He claimed he didn't want to be black. Ms. Tanzy told him that the class was all a family and if he didn't want to participate then he couldn't be part of the family.

This is when Chi stepped in...

Chi sat down next to the boy and began to explain.

Chi: Conner, our skin is white, right?

Conner: Ya.

Chi: Ms. Tanzy's skin is black, right?

Conner: Ya.

Chi: But what color is our blood? Red, right?

Conner: Ya.

Chi: See Conner, all of our blood is red, so we are all the same. We are all family in here.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I, of course being so very proud of my son, got teary eyed. How could a four year old boy have such an understanding and logic? Definitely a moment in Chi's life that I will never forget. I am so proud to be his mother!

Out for a Ride

A couple of weekends ago, Chi and I were out at my mom's house. I decided to take Chi for a horse back ride. I saddled up Shane and Candy, threw Chi up on Candy and away we went. We were gone for a good hour or so before we made our way home. I forgot how relaxing and soothing a good horseback ride out in the empty desert is. Plus it was great to have Malachi by my side and have small talk with him.

Afterwards, Malachi help me dress down and brush off Ms Candy like a good lil man. We have both decided that this will have to be at least a monthly occurence from now on...

A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

Malachi's 'oranges' finally dropped.

Sorry... I couldn't resist. I was dying laughing in the grociery store and the poor lil guy had no idea why.

First Semester of Skate Class Over!

On June 22nd Malachi had his last skating lesson of the semester AND his big test. He had to pass a series of tasks in order to get his certificate to move on to the next level.

Chi had to skate across the rink, skate three strides and then hold, skate three strides and then dip down and hold, skate three strides and then stop immediately and lastly do this sort of wiggle across the rink with his feet together.

He did sooooooo well and passed everything!! He got a little certificate which he immediately brought to me. He was so proud of himself and I was just as proud too!

My little man is quite the athlete!!

The End of Soccer Season 2009

June 13th was Malachi's last soccer game for the season. He has grown so much since his first practice. He is by far the fastest kid on the team and in my opinion the most competitive. Chi usually has to sit out a few minutes of each half in order to rotate all the kids in. This drives him absolutely nuts! He wants to play every minute! Chi is definitely a offensive player though. And when his partner in crime, Ben an awesome defensive player who can get the ball away from anyone, and he get together... No one can stop them!

His last game he scored 3 goals and the game before he scored 4!!
Malachi received a trophy for his participation and I think he is starting his own kind of messed up tradition. Just like with his baseball trophy... Chi managed to drop his soccer trophy but minutes after receiving is and busted it is 3 places. It's a good thing I have a large supply of super glue and I put it back together again. Silly boy...

Who's the Boss?

Recently Malachi has decided that he likes to give you permission to do things. Usually this comes when you have already started to do something. Such as:


I'm in the middle of pouring myself a glass of juice.
Malachi says, "Mommy, you can have some juice if you want to."
or
I get into the doggy cookie jar to give Diesel a cookie and as I'm giving Diesel his treat...
Malachi says, "Mommy, you can give bubba a cookie if you want to."
I think it's very cute that he has the need to feel like he has some power over things. However I do have to remind him of the actual rank structure in the house. This is how it goes:

Mommy: "Malachi, who's the boss?"
Malachi: "You are mommy."
Mommy: "Why am I the boss?"
Malachi: "Because you're a woman."

A Little Locked Up

I do believe this is Malachi's ultimate moment since his existence thus far.

Sunday morning Justin, Chi and I made our way down stairs to get some breakfast and watch some TV.
As most of you know by now, Chi has expressed very strongly that he wants to become a police officer. He tells Justin just about every chance he gets of how he wants to go to work with him and get the bad guys.
So just before Justin made his way to work that morning, he gave Malachi a set of his very own real handcuffs. My thoughts were immediately bad ones. Great, he's going to handcuff Diesel to a chair or something.
Justin said that he needed to get an additional key to give to him and would do it that day. So, YES!, I had NO key!! I of course told Justin this was not a good idea and he replied with, well he can't handcuff himself, his wrists are too small and don't let him handcuff you and you guys should be alright.
Alright?!?! Alright we were absolutely NOT.
Not even 2 hours later, Chi came around the corner from the kitchen, "Mommy, I need help." As he proceeded towards me I saw him taking itty bitty steps. When I looked even further I saw shinny metal cuffs hobbling my son's feet together. "Oh, No! What did you do???!!"
I didn't know whether to laugh or kill Justin. Since Justin wasn't present, I decided to laugh and placed Chi on the couch and asked him not to move to avoid banging his ankles up.
I called Justin in hopes to catch him before briefing. His response was, Oh NO! and then he couldn't stop laughing. He instructed me to try and call a couple of our friends to see if they were in the neighborhood.
No luck.
So I decided to take Chi down to the Enterprise Area Command. I knew that swing shift was getting ready to go on, so someone had to be there. I walked in, showed the girls my badge and then asked if they could check to see if any of the guys were there. I also explained what happened so they didn't make assumptions of bad parenting.
Out walked 2 cops, I'm assuming they both just had to see this, and one of them kindly freed my kiddo. He asked me what happened and I explained. They asked for Justin's call sign, I didn't know it. I'm sure they found another way to give him hell that night.
So Malachi is free, Justin has been given lots of Hell, and the cuffs have been temporarily removed from the situation until further notice.

NO....WHY...& BUT!

Lately Malachi has 3 NEW favorite words.

I hear them WAY more than I'd like to.

I will ask him to do something (usually sooo simple) and then I will get the following typical responses:

"NO"... proceeded by "I don't want to".

"WHY?"... usually followed by a strung out "mmoommmmyy"!

and then there's my new favorite...
"BUT"... also usually followed by a strung out "mmoommmmyy"!
These responses are KILLING me!!! I have told him, "Mommy doesn't like nos, whys, and butts, they give her headaches."
He has started to back away here and there when he thinks about what he is going to say. But when there is no thinking envolved, it's "no, why, and but" all day long.
All I can think of is.... my poor mother! She must have wanted to just pull out all of her hair at times with my sister and I. So... to my mom... 'I know I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it several more times, I'm soooooooo sooooorrrrrryyyyyy!!'
I love you mama!!!

A New Addiction

Chi has been in a learn how to skate class now for 3 weeks. Tonight after class, I asked what Chi would like for dinner. He turned with a big grin and replied, Joe's Crab Shack! I had to laugh. He had mentioned it on Saturday but we had other plans and couldn't go, so he must have been fiening it. I took him after skate class his first week (I was gone during his second, or we might have ended up there then too) since it's right down the street from the ice center. I figured, why not and away we went.
Wow this boy can chow down on some crab. It's amazing! There's not much Chi won't eat and I'm so blessed for that.

Learning to Skate

Malachi has taken on a rather difficult task as far as I am concerned. He wants to play hockey so I enrolled him in skate class. I think he thought it was going to be a piece of cake. Knowing that he would probably end up a little more challenged then before, I gave him a big pep talk before he got on the ice.

At first he went right out and was all for it. But after he fell on his bum pretty hard twice, he was a little discouraged. But my talk helped, and he kept on trying and was doing it by himself by the end of his first lesson.

I am sooo proud of him! Is there anything this child can't do??? I'm starting to wonder....