Addison's Big Night

Tonight was Addison's big Aikido test!  He was testing for the rank of 5th kyu.  He recently explained to me that there are 6 kyus, in reverse order.  The first test you take is for the 6th kyu rank.  Then, 5th, and so on until 1st.  After that, you take your blackbelt test.  Then, as Addison explained, there are 10 levels of black belt.

Addison informed me that he would most likely stop after becoming a black belt.  Why?  Because he said that he doesn't know what he is going to do when he is older, but he bets that it won't involve walking around in alleys where he would need to know anything more than a 1st level black belt.

I inquired, "Have you ever thought about just doing Aikido for fun?"

"Ummm.... I might could do that."

Tonight, Mim and I went with him to watch him test.  First of all, they call out all of the commands (if that's what you call them) in Japanese.  His sensei spoke no English.  Because Granddaddy brought and participated in class with Addison up until his surgery, I haven't watched him very much.  Until recently, I hadn't seen him practice much at all.  For me, it's completely amazing that he can watch them show these tricky moves a few times, and then he tries them out.  As some one with very little spacial relations skills, I am blown away.  Tonight, he did a great job!  He did so great that we headed to Dunkin Donuts afterward, where I let him pick out his favorite: glazed donut with chocolate icing and sprinkles.  Plus, he picked up another one for breakfast.  Success is sweet.

While Addison was at practice tonight, I noticed how he kept flipping his hair out of his face.  He has been wanting to just "let it grow" for a long time now, and I asked him if he was ready for a haircut.  I don't care, mind you.  He can have hair down to his rump as long as he's a smart, sweet, respectful kid.  But, he said he didn't think he was ready for a cut.  

Then, he thought for a minute.

"Can I just cut my bangs short, and let the back keep growing?"

"Addison," I answered, "that's called a mullet."

"Oh," he replied, with a sneer.  "I definitely don't want anything called that."