Eric's First Jiujitsu Class

Patrick took these photos at Eric's first jiujitsu class last Monday. We're trying to find a sport that Eric is interested in. We have put him in team sports in the past, but none of them really clicked. He enjoyed baseball, for example, but he really only liked the practices--not the games. He enjoyed gymnastics, but he was fine with quitting gymnastics for the summer. He seemed interested in trying out martial arts, but we waited until after swim team was over, since swim practices were every day.

Apparently, there is no place to sit in the actual room that the kids practice, so Patrick had to take this from the doorway. Eric mostly watched during his first practice, but he was really listening and paying attention. Since then, he has only gone to two more practices, which are usually on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays. He couldn't go last Friday because we went out of town to Houston. He didn't go on Wednesday of this week or today because the owner/instructor and his wife were having a baby. One way we could tell that he really enjoyed jiujitsu was that he was trying to convince us last Friday to find a way to let him go to practice even though we were leaving town. He was also disappointed that he couldn't go this Wednesday and today. He clearly seems to love jiujitsu right now.

This is a picture of Eric in his borrowed gi on his first day. We have since bought him his own. He had a choice of a black one or a white one, and he chose the white one, maybe because it has some cool patches on it. I'll have to get a better picture soon.

Patrick says that he seems to be picking it up fairly quickly, because he is really taking it all in and paying close attention. I just love that he seems very passionate about this sport so far. This month was a trial run for us, but Patrick will now be signing him up for a whole year. We'll see how it goes, but look at that smile. He loves it!