Ronan is 10!

At the end of November, Ronan entered the world of double digits!  Pops sent us this beautiful pic of Grandee holding a newborn Ronan…

Ten years ago, Ronan was a wide-eyed and alert baby, taking in the whole hospital and refusing to miss a moment of life by sleeping or eating.  He continues much in this vein today, so deeply immersed is he in the job of learning…

On his birthday, he received many gifts and one of his favorites was a present from Austin– a first aid kit for his lab.  Below he is evaluating the kit and adding in new pieces to make it more comprehensive and useful.

Through Brightworks and the gentle nudging of one of the collaborators there, Ronan has recently found rock climbing.  We spend hours together each day after school on the bouldering walls.

I also learned to belay (which is quite an accomplishment for a knot challenged person like myself) so that Ronan could top rope.  Last week, Ronan made an impromptu goal to climb 1000 vertical feet in one afternoon.  After tying him into the ropes, I watched him continue to master the 50 foot wall in front of him, over and over again.  So proud of the task ahead of him and the chance to learn every nook on that one path up the wall.

For his birthday this year, instead of a big party, he wanted to invite one of his favorite friends from Brightworks over for the weekend.  The boys did chemistry experiments, built molecular structures, ate chocolate chip pancakes, hiked into the canyon, wrestled with Nugget and enjoyed byrne together.  It was just the kind of celebration that fit Ronan.

Hard to believe that we are one decade into parenting— still working with some of the challenges that a Ronan brings and still in awe of his intelligence, deep focus and commitment to learning and mastery.