The karate teen

Last night, Dave and I settled down to watch Cobra Kai, a Netflix show based on The Karate Kid. Dave wanted me to see it because he's gotten Max into it—and it's inspired Max to bust out karate moves.

"Kick!" Dave will say, and Max gives a kick. "Do Cobra Kai!" Dave said, code for "throw a punch," and Max does. And then for good measure Max will give a big "hi-YAH!" and he punches and kicks at the same time with a huge grin on his face. 

This is all kinds of cool. When Max was a little guy, we tried to take him for karate lessons—we figured it would be a very fun kind of physical therapy—only he ran wailing out of the place. And here he was, karate-ing all over the place. We are going to have to figure out a way to get him lessons. Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind some, either: HI-YAH! TAKE THAT, CORONAVIRUS!!!

Max actually has a lot of force in his arms and legs—it's the cerebral palsy spasticity, and it could work in his favor for karate. Maybe it would help him up his coordination game, too, although boyfriend does land a mean punch.

I'm going to start with YouTube videos, I found a few good beginner ones. It would be quite awesome if Max got obsessed with them, because he could really use a new video obsession (fire trucks with wailing sirens OMGeeeeeeeee). Maybe we'll find a virtual class. Maybe, just maybe, I can get someone to come to our backyard for lessons. In the next couple of weeks, I have a teen coming to give Ben a softball lesson and a hair stylist coming to give my mom a trim. Backyard karate seems entirely possible and as I well know from raising Max, you'd be surprised what people say yes to if you just ask.