Here we are, double digits for our sweet Lucas. Nothing prepares you for how fast time flies when you have children. It’s so hard to believe that our chubby cheeked baby boy is ten!
Here are Lucas’s current favorites:
- Color: he is staunchly sticking to orange!
- Animals: cats and blue herons
- Book: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
- Movie: Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers
- TV Show: Lego Masters
- Fictional Character: Harry Potter
- Song: The Adults are Talking by the Strokes
- Food: Chicken Quesadillas
- Snack: popsicles
- Sport: All soccer, all the time!
He randomly asked Jaime and me the other day which of our physical features we liked the best and shared that his favorite feature is his hair! Can love of one’s hair be passed through the genes?! Both Jaime and Lucas do have great hair, I must admit. Lucas likes to keep his long and shaggy these days, but smooth rather than “crazy” like Jaime’s.
I asked him if he had any dislikes to share and he said CHOCOLATE! He recently decided to try chocolate (after nine years of emphatic refusal) and put an entire chocolate kiss in his mouth. You would have thought he just chomped down on a garlic clove from the look of shock and disgust on his face! I know, I don’t get it either.
Lucas is a creative kid and enjoys writing. He’s filled countless journals with stories he’s made up using characters he admires from books and movies. He also likes to make lists and charts and plans out chapter titles for future books he plans to write. Lately he’s gotten into using google slides to make informational books, maps, and diagrams and is a pro at finding photos and adding graphics. He always has a million ideas rattling around in that head of his! As I write this, he’s listing the fifty states in order of size which to him is a fun, relaxing weekend activity. He also still enjoys imaginative play and creates his own “movies” by acting out his stories with toy figures. He used to ask us to watch all these movies but over time he has done this less and mostly just makes them for his own enjoyment (and as an excuse to escape to his room and hide from his sister).
Lucas loves the fantasy genre. After reading the Hobbit last year, he and Jaime read the three Lord of the Rings books together this past fall. I was impressed he was able to listen and understand what can be some very dense passages! They took to reading the book with a dictionary nearby because every time he heard a word he didn’t know, he asked Jaime to define it. Lucas enjoyed watching the movies after completing the books. Early in 2021, he started the Harry Potter series. He didn’t think he was going to like it, but was hooked after the first chapter of the first book. He’s now on book six and doesn’t want it to end! He and Alena can often be found dueling with chopsticks-turned-wands. Lucas has patiently taught her various spells syllable by syllable. It’s pretty amusing to hear a two-year-old yell “Expelliarmus!”
Animals and nature are still Lucas’s greatest love! One of his favorite places in the whole world is Kensington Metro Park where he loves to walk the trails, feed the birds, and keep tallies of all the animals he sees there in the wild.
He has become very knowledgeable about birds over the last year and is always scanning the skies and pointing them out. Recently while vacationing in Tennessee, he pointed and said, “Mom, look!!” I followed his gaze, located the object, and my brain said, “bird!” His brain said, “Double-crested cormorant, 27-35 inches in height, weight of 3-5 lbs, diet of small fish, must consume about one pound a day…etc.) How he holds all those facts in his head is beyond me! He hopes to have a career involving animals when he grows up. He’s wanted to be an animal scientist for some time, and lately has been talking about being a wild animal photographer or making wildlife documentaries. He’s working on refining his British accent in case he gets to narrate his own work.
In May, we got a cat, and this, according to Lucas, made all his dreams come true. (Phew, I guess my work here is done!). Jaime takes both the credit and the blame for this rather spontaneous development depending on if it’s a day where Bowie is sweet and playful and fun or if she’s scratching up my furniture and waking us up at night. Even on the scratching and waking days, Lucas is thrilled and loves her to death.
Lucas is a devoted big brother and adores Alena. They have their moments of fighting and frustration as all siblings do, but overall they get along great and have loads of fun together. They like to jump on cushions, chase around the dining room table, play super heroes, entertain the cat together, pretend to be animals (Lucas is always a cat and Alena is usually a pig) and occasionally they try something more subdued (that doesn’t involve screaming) like looking at books or watching TV together. Lucas has begun to teach her all about animals and she’s loves this. She now regularly points to the sky and shouts “Blue Heron!!” whether there is one flying by or not. They are a great pair.
Lucas loves being with Alena, and family in general is very important to him. Although the pandemic has been a challenge for all of us in various ways, he loved the extra family time and the adventures the four of us had together. He also greatly loves his extended family, and enjoys spending time with his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
Soccer continues to be a big part of Lucas’s life. He had a great year on his Michigan Tigers team and is already excited about the upcoming season. This past week he went to team camp and loved the fact that practice was two hours instead of one! He actually enjoys the drills and exercises and not just the scrimmaging and playing games (although that his still his favorite). He will have coach Dad again next year which he is thrilled about!
He also loves going to watch his favorite team, Detroit City FC, compete in a nearby town. He went to his first game when he was three and a half (and he only made it to halftime!). Now he wouldn’t dream of missing a game. His favorite player is not on the team this year but it hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm at all. He loves going with Jaime and meeting his friends and his grandparents there. No DCFC game would be complete without a few slices of food truck pizza which he says is second only to my homemade pizza :).
And there you have it. A snapshot of our boy at age 10. He is growing and changing, but he still has a heart of gold. We are so proud of how kind he is, how loving, considerate, affectionate, and sweet. I know the years ahead will bring big changes but I’m confident that those things will remain. Happy birthday sweet boy! We love you so very much.