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| Brayden has been very helpful with our home addition. |
Eleven. Eleven! He is eleven. This is a summary for Brayden from 10.75 to 11 years old.
Eating
Eating is good and normal. He is pretty boring to read about when it comes to food since he eats well.
Sleeping
Sleeping is overall good. Brayden had a few events during this time period where he would stress out about falling asleep and getting a good nights sleep. One example is the night before he ran a mile race. Our school hosts 9 elementary schools who send their 4th and 5th graders and all race against each other. He really wanted to get good sleep the night before and stressed big time about it and of course had a hard time falling asleep.
I could totally relate and understand. I get the same way when I have a newborn (“If I fall asleep now, I will get 2 hours of sleep before she gets up to eat again”–there were many times I didn’t fall asleep at all between night feedings because I was worrying about it so much).
I have some Serenity from doTerra that helps the children feel calmer on nights if needed. We use it rarely, but it is handy when we do need it. We also do more prayers. We talked with him about the worst that would happen–he would feel tired. But we assured him that he is well rested enough on a consistent basis that falling asleep late one night wouldn’t ruin his day. We also assured him he would have enough adrenaline to make up for being tired. and we were right–he got his best time ever on race day! You can’t ask for better than that. He placed 5th place overall in his heat, so it was a great race for him.
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| Finishing the race |
School
School was great! Brayden enjoyed his fifth grade year a lot. Brayden was able to participate in a debate with other gifted and talented students around our valley. He didn’t enjoy it so much. He doesn’t like contention. I personally love debate. He did a great job, though, and one of the judges came to him after and said he should really join a debate team. I kind of doubt that is in his future, but who knows!
At the end of fifth grade, they give out awards. Brayden was one of four students chosen to receive the Hope of America Award. It is given to students for exceptional leadership, citizenship, and academic skills and achievements. He was also awarded the Presidential award for academics, among other awards. It was such a great payday moment as a parent.
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| Hope of America Winners |
Musical
He had his performances in this period as Shrek in Shrek the Musical Jr. It was so great! It was such a great experience for him. I am so impressed by these elementary aged children who perform so well!
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| Shrek with Donkey–played by one of his best friends |
Piano
One of Brayden’s very favorite things in life is playing the piano. He is diligent and consistent with practicing. He had his recital during this period and did very well!
Brayden can read music well and can also play by ear well. One day, I heard him playing “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” on the piano. I knew we didn’t have any sheet music for that, so I went to see where he got music from. He had none. He just liked it and played it. If you follow me on Instagram (@chroniclesbabywisemom), then you saw that video.
Brayden really loves music. We have an amazing music teacher at our school (I know how rare this can be; my elementary didn’t even have a music teacher!). Each year, she asks for volunteers from the fifth grade to do various things musically in a couple of the assemblies she orchestrates. One is in the fall for the Veterans Day assembly and one is in May for the Folk Dance Festival. She teaches them folk dances and folk songs. She has fifth grade students accompany the songs students sing. She also chooses 10 students to compose a song to perform. The songs have many, many instruments in them. Brayden was one of the 10. It was so fun to see the musical talent of the students. Again, I uploaded his song to Instagram.
Soccer
Brayden played rec soccer during this time. Nate was his coach, as usual. Brayden enjoys playing soccer.
Swimming
Brayden is still swimming on a swim team. We didn’t have any meets during this time; they ended up conflicting with the musical performance and with his 11 year old boy scout camp. His coach moved away, which was very sad for him. He lucked out and got our personal swim teacher as his coach, so that was happy for him.
Friends
Brayden is at that age now when “they” say kids start to want to be with peers more than they have previously. I can definitely see this happening. Brayden has always had a high interest in friends; he lives next door to two of his best friends, so he is able to easily spend a lot of time with friends. The friend interest has been expanding more where he is a lot more proactive in wanting to get together with his friends who aren’t right in the neighborhood. That had previously been enough for him socially much of the time, but now he is wanting to see more of his friends more of the time.
This is a natural progression in life. I am very glad that Brayden has very good friends. I know all of their mothers well and they are all amazing women. I strongly believe in the power of friendships–for good or bad–and I am glad that he has a good group of friends.
SCHEDULE
Brayden’s Schedule. This is a typical school day:
7:00 AM–wake up. Get ready. He does basic chores and practices his piano in the mornings.
9:00 AM–school
4:00 PM–home
5:00/5:30 PM–Dinner. Then time with family.
7:30 PM Start getting ready for bed.
8:30-9:00 PM–in bed