Our Karate Kid

We finally took Ethan to his first Karate Tournament. It's so hard to go during the school year, because of soccer. I was so happy that we finally could take him to one. We told him on Tuesday that he would be going. He was so excited. He kept asking "how many days till I get a trophy." Gotta love the positive thinking! The whole family got up this morning to go and support him. It's the first time I really saw Ethan look nervous. Usually he could care less. He kept watching all the kids practicing their Kata's. About a half an hour after getting there, he saw some boys from his Dojo. He ran over to them and started talking. That seemed to relax him a little. The funny thing is that the majority of the boys are older. Like 5 years older. But he just fit in with them, like they were kids from his grade or something. That's a trait I wish all kids could maintain through adulthood!

Moving on....the first kids to compete were those with weapons. Those Kata's were cool to watch. After the weapons was Ethan's division. He was really nervous, but did well.

He paused during his Kata, and that hurt him a little. He didn't get anything wrong, but since the judges don't know all the Kata's they judge on fluidity, and not exactness. Kind of weird, but good to know. I was proud of him for doing his newest Kata, instead of doing the one he tested with to get his orange belt, even though he probably would have scored better with that! The people from his Dojo knew! He got fourth for his Kata, which he only got a metal for. I could tell he was hoping for one of the trophy's. He still had his sparring.

He did well, and won his first round. In the end, he had to sparr his friend from his own dojo. His friend took first and he took second. He was so happy to get a trophy!

All the kids were so happy for him, and wanted to hold and look at his trophy. Ethan wasn't letting it go for anything. Guess he is going to be asking us to take him to some more tournaments in the near future! After the tournament we took the kids to JuJu Berry, per Ethan's request! I won't be surprised if Ethan opens an ice cream store when he's older!

I'm so proud of Ethan. He works so hard at all he does. He has been doing so well in his music class. This week he started composing. When I say composing, I mean picking out notes on the piano, and writing the notes down on paper. He made a little book, on his own, of all his songs he made up. One of the songs he picked out on his own was the theme to Polar Express. He stapled all his composed songs together to look like a piano book. It's not Mozart by any means, but I LOVE that when he takes in an interest in things he really takes it to another level. He has such a creative mind! I love how Heavenly Father has blessed me with such amazing children who are all unique and possess different qualities. How boring it would be if they all came cookie cutter.