Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Cassidy


As I suspected it was a very busy weekend. We tend to get quite a few graduation announcements each year and try to make it to as many parties as possible. This year the parties were spread out quite a bit geographically, so we didn't make it to as many as we would have liked.


So, we are moving on to Cassidy. There is so much to say about Cassidy. She is 13 1/2 years old and just finishing up her 7th grade year at St. Maries Middle School. In a nutshell Cassidy is a DRAMA QUEEN. She challenges us every day with her huge personality and social nature.


Cassidy is a great student and enjoys school. She is capable of getting straight "A"s but her socializing sometimes gets in her way. This year she took a class called Publications. It is a class that specializes in desktop publishing. They put out the monthly school newsletter and the yearbook. She found that she really enjoys this type of thing and is looking forward to taking it again next year.


Cassidy has tried almost every sport the school and community has to offer. The best I can tell, she has not fallen in love with any of them yet. In elementary school she played soccer and basketball and continues to play basketball for the middle school.


When she was in her late elementary school years Cassidy often wrestled (the sport, not just play) at home with her brother to help him practice for upcoming meets and competitions. We found her to be very strong, very competitive, and a quick study when shown what to do. Shortly thereafter she began asking if she could wrestle. Both Mike and I said no, in no uncertain terms, should a girl wrestle. We had a myriad of different reasons that we were against the idea. When she hit sixth grade she wore us down and we finally decided that we would let her try (we knew she wouldn't like it and figured that once she knew that it would be over). Well, guess what? She has wrestled for the club team and the middle school team for two years now! I know, I can hear some of my friends gasping in horror from here!


Interestingly enough, wrestling has been a very good thing for Cassidy. She is VERY social, has a ton of friends, and has the tendency to be a follower. She wants to do everything her friends are doing and nothing that they aren't. Making the decision to be the only girl in town who was wrestling, while her friends were doing other things, was a very big deal for her. She struggled most with that part of it. What has come of it is that Cassidy has gained some confidence and realized that she can step out and be her own person and it doesn't matter that her friends are not signed up for the same activities as her. A hot-tempered kid, she has also had to learn how to control her emotions...sometimes she succeeds and sometimes she doesn't. She has also had some success in the sport as well. She has brought home a handful of medals and now holds the record for the fastest pin in St. Maries Middle School history at 3 seconds (I personally think that the kid she pinned was so surprised that a girl knocked him down that he just laid there!).


She recently tried out for cheerleader for next year and made the squad. One of the rules of cheer leading in the middle school is that you can only do one sport. Although I believe that she is leaning heavily toward basketball, I don't know that she has decided.


Besides school and sports Cassidy enjoys anything that is social. She like to hang out with her friends and talk on the phone...and TEXT! Good grief! About 9 months ago we made the decision to get rid of our home phone and go exclusively cellular. Financially, this was a good decision. At the time we got cell phones for all of our kids. We limit their talk time each month, and although we have unlimited texting, we have some pretty strict rules about the phones...no phones at school unless you are in high school or have a school activity, no phones during meals, on family days, or after 8:30 pm. Cassidy is our kid who likes to push the boundaries of these rules, although she is learning that it is more comfortable for her to follow the rules than be without her phone because she didn't.


Every two years one of the middle school teachers organizes a summer trip to Washington DC. The kids fund raise for two years, then go on this trip. Cassidy has been involved with the group for the past two years and is looking forward to leaving in the early morning hours of June 10 for her trip. They will fly to Washington DC and spend several days there sightseeing. Then they will bus to Philadelphia, visiting an Amish community on the way. After a day or so in Philadelphia they will leave for New York City. It is a 9 day trip and she is really looking forward to it. Kaittlin was able to go when she is in middle school and really enjoyed it.


Cassidy is planning on attending church camp this summer and spending days at the pool. She loves to spend and have money, but is not particularly interested in working for it. This is an area that we are working on with her. I hope it is the age...I do remember thinking at one point that Kaittlin was the laziest kid in the world and now I am very proud of her work ethic. Cassidy does have a couple families that she enjoys babysitting for so may have the opportunity to do more of that. She also spent a couple afternoons with me recently scraping the old linoleum floor from our kitchen and dining room and seemed to enjoy the process. She is a "messy" so I am trying to entice her to clean up and organize her room with the promise of new paint, flooring, etc.


All in all, Cassidy is our most outgoing, outspoken, opinionated, and challenging child. However, I believe that her personality traits that sometimes make me crazy right now, will mature into traits that serve her well in adulthood.


The picture attached is from last summer in our yard. Until next time...

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