Ren is Ten!!

 Double digits...REN is TEN!!!

Look at that cutie. We were lucky enough to travel to Copper Mountain to go skiing this year, and we left the day after Ren's birthday. So we got to do his birthday photos in Colorado!

Ren continues to be our hilarious and quirky kiddo. He is unlike anyone I've ever met and I just love his personality so much. He is not only hilarious and quirky, but clever, creative, outdoorsy, imaginative, and one of the most handsome boys I know!

Ren doesn't like sports because he hates competition. But he loves being outside! Hiking, shed hunting, climbing rocks, camping, making campfires, climbing trees, running, and making up pretend games are all things he loves to do. Sometimes I will see him outside just playing with sticks and talking to himself...he tells me that he's pretending to narrate/film Youtube videos.

Ren loves facts. He watches shows like Brain Games and Weird But True, remembers everything they say, and then will randomly pull out these facts in every day conversation. I used to question his validity but after many many instances of googling the things he said and finding they were TRUE, I just trust him now. He has started pulling out facts he learns from school and books now too.

Ren enjoys reading, but graphic novels are his favorite. He has loved the Wings of Fire series (graphic novel versions), as well as Dog Man, Cat Kid, and several others. One of his friends at school recently introduced him to the Spy School series and it is the first series that is NOT graphic novels that he has been excited about.

I believe I have said this in the past, but Ren continues to be one of the funniest kids with the quickest sense of humor that I ever have seen. I just love this so much about him. He keeps us laughing daily and Adam and I are always texting each other anecdotes that Ren said or did.

Ren LOVES LOVES LOVES animals. He is so tender-hearted and is always telling me how cute our pets are. He likes to build the cats forts out of pillows and blankets and he always makes them super cozy. He got a bearded dragon (who he named Journey) for Christmas because he'd been asking for a lizard for quite some time. He is really good about taking care of Journey, which says a lot because Ren is not the most responsible person, nor is he very self-motivated. But he turns on and off the heat pad and heat lamp every day, and he's learning to not be as squeamish about feeding Jojo cockroaches.

Ren loves to eat and is always hungry, but never wants anything of substance. He would live on cereal and ice cream if he could. He eats Maple + Brown Sugar oatmeal on school mornings unless I make banana bread, which I often do. On weekends he gets cereal and his favorite is Cocoa Pebbles.  Chocolate milk and Yoohoo are his favorite drinks. He also likes Mac n cheese, hot dogs, bean and cheese burritos, cheeseburgers, lasagna, spaghetti, creamed corn, and cheese pizza.

Ren's favorite restaurants are Doc Greens and Chic-fil-a.

We have recently discovered that Ren likes shopping. When we went to Colorado, he was very insistent that we go to the village to go shopping. I don't love shopping, so this is a bit of a stretch for me, but we accommodate him sometimes. I think he just really enjoys getting to look at all thee different options and make a careful choice about what to get.

Ren loves playing video games and watching YouTube. He plays Minecraft, Mario, MarioKart, Roblox, and some random little games on his phone. He likes watching videos about playing video games, how-to-draw, and lots of random ones with facts.

One of Ren's favorite things is to have brother sleepovers down in Sutton's room, or in our newly finished theater in the basement. He has trouble sleeping in general, and I think it helps him to have someone nearby as he's falling asleep. We use melatonin to help him sometimes, as well as magnesium lotion. Those things seem to help!

Ren tried out Cub Scouts this year. He really enjoyed it, but we struggled with his behavior during den meetings. There was a lack of structure/discipline in that setting, and Ren does not do well when it's a free for all...it was like he forgot how to be a normal, respectful kid. Since we also do so much camping and hiking of our own, we decided to pull him out after a couple months. He plans to try track here in a few weeks through the school. We will see if he likes it or if it's too much competition!

Ren is so creative. He loves drawing and has aspirations to write/draw a comic and also a flip book. He has tried several times but can't quite get it to be what he wants and then he gives up. Perseverance is NOT his strong suit. He has recently gotten into sculpting with clay too.

As the baby of the family, I definitely tend to baby him. Adam has been (rightly) forcing me to bestow more responsibility on him. So we have been making him do things I normally would do, like making his own plate at family meals, or getting his own clothes out in the morning before school.

On a normal school day, Ren's routine is that I wake him up at 7am. He chores Journey and eats his oatmeal, then he lays on the couch for 5 minutes to just chill. After that he brushes his teeth and gets dressed. I gel his hair and we leave for school around 7:30/7:40. I pick them up from school at 3:20/3:30 and we come home for some chill time. We try to get outside in thee afternoons if it's nice. Supper and sometimes showers. Bedtime is 8pm, but they're allowed to read until 8:45 when it's lights out. On the weekends, they get much more of a free-for-all and later bedtimes.

Ren's biggest struggles are focus and impulse-control. All things we've had to work at both at home and at school. He is easily distracted...we often say he's the definition of a butterfly chaser. It creates some wonderful out-of-the-box thoughts and experiences, but it's also a bit more challenging for him in the traditional classroom sense. I feel like he adapts well and he WANTS to do well in school, so it doesn't seem like a choice he's making to not focus. I really just think his brain works a bit differently and I honestly think he will do amazing things because of it!

Another cool thing about. Ren is that he doesn't care about gender when he's finding friends. He has both girl and boy besties and I think it's so cool. Currently his little group of friends consists of Vayda, Vance, Caden, and Brynlee. 

Ren is tall and skinny! It's a struggle to find pants that are long enough but small enough around the waist. Same with shirts. He could still wear a size 5 or 6 shirt but the arms and belly would be too short.

Ren cannot keep his room clean to save his life. Sutton is the clean kid and Ren is the messy kid.

Sutton is Ren's favorite person. And Sutton is so good with him. I just love their relationship so much. It's not perfect but I just know they will always be a big part of each other's lives.

I figured I'd also include a family photo since we took some while in Colorado as well.

                              

Here's Ren's 10th birthday video: