10 Awesome Things about Rex

This young man turns 10 today.  Ten!!!  What?  Now we are in the double digits.  How can this be?  Just the other day, he was a baby in our arms, and we called him Rexie-pooh (he loves that nickname now, yeah).

10 Awesome Things about Rex:

1. Rex loves animals, everything about them, and just about every kind of animal.  He checks out the insects on his hikes into the woods, and his boyish hands are amazingly gentle with small fragile creepy things like lizards.  He's even forgiven and gone on to love the dogs that have bitten him (yes, that was plural--sometimes his friendliness overcomes his common sense).
2. Rex is a collector, kind of like a blue jay.  Shiny bits and pieces of things that look useless to the rest of us immediately attract his attention, and he squirrels them away for further inspection and introspection.
3. He is an avid reader.  He's always got a book he's working on reading, and it's usually a pretty interesting one, too.  Who knew when he was little and ripping up board books that he would come to be one of the best readers ever?
4. When Rex grows up, he wants to be a dad, and he wants to be ... oh, it moves around a bit, from soldier to fireman to police officer to explorer.  You get the idea, though.  Definitely a man of action waiting to happen; ok, who am I kidding? the action is already happening.  Every day.  All the time.
5. Just when you think you have all of the angles of perspective covered...Rex swoops in with an insight that has never ever occurred to you.  And at the same time you are laughing, you are thinking, "Oh my heck, he's so freaking smart!!!"
6. When Rex was a toddler, I used to think he had no sense of caution whatsoever.  While time has tempered that somewhat, and sometimes he is almost overly-cautious, he will still ride his bike down the hills on the side of our house so that he can crush a gingerbread house as he speeds along.  Cool, that.  I was afraid for him, but he just shrugged his shoulders (and probably rolled his eyes).
7. Lego guys.  Lego guys.  Lego guys.  'Nuff said.
8. Because of the whole reading thing (see #3 above), Rex knows his scriptures pretty darn well.  And he's really good at telling the stories therein.  And not just the cool, action-packed parts; the other parts, too.
9. He called me his hero once, for adopting him.  He probably doesn't remember that, because it was several years back.  But I do.  I remember it because it was completely unprompted by me or anyone.  He just came up with it.  Under the boy dirt and sound effects and constantly-firing nerves and muscles, there is a very tender and grateful heart there.  I don't deserve it.
10. Rex spreads smiles wherever he goes.  You can't help it when he's around.  He is always smiling, even on a bad day.  He'll crack jokes or goof off just to cheer someone up.  And when he smiles, his whole face lights up.  You can't beat that talent in life!

Happy Birthday, Rex!  You light up our lives in more ways than you can know.  We are so proud of the young man that you are becoming.

See other birthday posts for Rex here, here, and here.