Caden - age 12 - 7th Grade

Caden turned 12 this summer and was ordained as a deacon in our church. He can pass the sacrament now (although he doesn't have to every week because there are 19 deacons!). He was pretty nervous about that new responsibility at first but he is getting comfortable with it now. He is actively involved in his Scout troop and deacon's quorum. He did MMA this summer with Parker but had to stop shortly after school started because of competing responsibilities. 7th grade is the first year in our district that the kids change classes and have to dress out for PE/athletics. It has been a hard adjustment for him as I hear it is with a lot of boys. He started the year getting up early to do cross-country at school. He did that for a couple of weeks until his knees and shins started hurting. He was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease. Basically (like his dad and sister before him) he has grown so quickly that his bones have grown faster than his muscles and tendons causing knee pain. He had to quit cross-country and has been doing physical therapy twice a week. The pain receeded for a couple of weeks but has returned at times. He wears patellar knee bands to help with the pain so he can continue to participate in athletics. He was heart-broken this week when he tried out for the school basketball team and did not make it. There were 80 boys that tried out and only room on the teams for 35.

Caden does really well in school. His grades are really good and he keeps up with his assignments well. Sometimes he gets anxious about a test or something that is due. The anxiety can be paralyzing at times. If he gets thinking about it too much and gets worked up, he will shut down. He has been going to neurofeedback twice a week since school started. We have seen some improvements with his anxiety and are hoping to see more. He also sees a counselor but she is only available once or twice a month. Anxiety is not our friend.

Caden is a really sweet kid. He is very sensitive which is a great blessing but can also be hard. He can be very sweet with his sisters, playing with them and taking care of them. He loves to play Clash of Clans on the iphone or ipad. He connects with some of his school friends this way. He loves to play games and throw the football with Bob and Parker (and me occasionally). He is in the band at school and plays the saxophone. He is in the 3rd band at his school and gets bored with how slow they progress. I think the 2nd band would be too stressful for him this year (they have a lot of recordings and assignments that are due each week). The perfect band at his school would be the 2.5 band or a normal 2nd or 1st band at any other school. He has been reading the How To Train a Dragon series and loves those books. Every night he likes to listen to an audio story before bed. Sometimes he listens to Adventures in Odyssey on oneplace.com and sometimes he listens to stories on storynory.com. It really helps him relax before bed. Also, Caden is as tall as me now. I'm sure he will outgrow me in another month or two. His feet are a men's size 9.5! He is a great kid and we love him dearly!