As I was trying to walk to my computer to sit down and type out this birthday blog, Zeke jumped in front of me singing "Feliz Navidad" while moving his eyebrows up and down and moving his hips in circles. So there's that, guess I can end this now cause that's a pretty good summary.
In all reality I know that would leave so much out. When I think of Zeke I always think of his adventurous spirit. Which was really highlighted on our trip through the Badlands and to Glacier National Park this summer. As mentioned in the previous post, there was a bit of a storm that rolled through. It was intense. While Tyler picked up Vi and ran her to the bathroom as she was screaming for her dear life, Zeke had been running around IN THE STORM trying to gather things that were blowing away and putting them away. Gary sent him after Tyler and this kid ran through the storm to the shelter on his own to join his sister. Once there, as I sat with my arms around his sister trying to comfort and calm her Zeke was literally walking in place trying to keep the giant bathroom door from swinging open in the wind. He seemed to be having fun with it and it wasn't until everyone joined us in the bathrooms for shelter that I saw Gary putting his full weight against the door trying to keep it shut that I realized how much work Zeke had been doing. This was after an entire day of walking along precarious ledges just to see how far he could go. 
He's still probably the most empathetic person in our family. When he hears of hardships he wants to know how we can help. He insists we dig for any cash we can find if he sees a homeless person. He spent his own cash so he could get his sister a gift he knew she would love. He was moved to tears hearing of something hard his cousin had to go through. On the other hand, he sure antagonizes a lot, so maybe it all balances out.
Oh! Zeke learned to read! And boy oh boy has this been a journey. The most encouraging part is that he has ALWAYS loved books and stories. At bedtime he is always asking me to tell him a story, or to look at a book. It's been a looong time coming with lots of work but seeing him actually being able to pick up a book to read on his own is the most rewarding thing this year. 
I know I always throw in here something about Zeke's karate....but he just keeps really impressing me. It's HARD work and seeing him continuously grow in dedication, focus, technical skills and strength is remarkable. Within this year he has earned his purple belt and two stripes. So he has learned multiples new strikes, kicks, blocks, counter attacks, and self defense maneuverers, each with 5 or 6 steps. Currently he is learning "Shih Pa Lo Han Sho" aka, 18 hands and learning his kata for being able to earn his brown belt. At these test he gets no clues or help, he has to be able to do each demonstration on his own. For example, if he is demonstrating some of the self defense maneuvers he has to tell the other student where and how to strike then do all the combinations for that particular attack. It really does blow me away. 
He's getting to a place where he is starting to vocalize his frustrations a little bit more. There's been more sibling arguments and a few more yells of frustration, but honestly, I see this as a good thing. He's learning you can't be happy go lucky all the time and how to handle and process difficult things. Of course he prefers to have fun and joyful, but watching him learn how to take deep breaths when it's needed and keep working at things is so important.
Overall, he remains one of the most content and happy kids I know. My friend texted me yesterday and asked if Zeke was excited for the snow storm for his birthday. I asked him and his response was, "It's ok, I didn't have plans to go outside. I would rather it be a nice day but it's fine." This is also a pretty decent summary of Zeke. As long as he can build a fort, have some food and be able to play, he's pretty darn happy. And we are all pretty darn lucky.
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