Kelly Ripa Celebrates Her and Husband Mark Consuelos’ Youngest Son Joaquin’s 18th Birthday

All three of Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos‘ children are officially adults! On Wednesday, the couple took to social media to celebrate their son Joaquin’s 18th birthday. Joaquin is the youngest of the couple’s three children, with his older siblings being Lola, 19, and Michael, 23.

Marking the occasion, the Live With Kelly and Ryan co-host shared a sweet montage of photos of her youngest through the years set to orchestral music, showing Joaquin growing from a young child to the now certified adult he is today. She started the post with, “Joaquin 18!!!!” before going on to wish a happy birthday to “the light of our lives!” Tagging the 18-year-old in the post, Ripa said he fills “every day with joy, and [makes] everything better! We love you to the moon and beyond.”

Consuelos was just as eager to pay tribute on his son’s big day. Over on his own account, the Riverdale actor shared a series of nine photos, dating back to when he was just a toddler and following him through the years. The post included pictures of Joaquin with both of his parents as well as his older siblings before ending with a more recent poolside snapshot of the teen and his father. Consuelos wrote, “Happy 18th Birthday Quino! [Kelly Ripa] our little guy is all grown up. We love you Joaquin!” Ripa replied to the post with a comment that likely caused Joaquin to blush, writing, “You know what? Making him was so much fun….”

Joaquin’s birthday comes just weeks after Ripa opened up Joaquin preparing to enter his first year of college. Speaking on her morning talk show, the mom of three grew emotional as she expressed pride in her son, who struggles with dyslexia and dysgraphia, which affect a person’s reading and writing abilities.

“Joaquin is trying to decide on a college right now, and he’s got lots of options,” Ripa said. “Mark and I were FaceTiming the other night. … Mark got very emotional, and very choked up, because he said, ‘You know, I never thought he would be able to go to college.’ Because he was profoundly dyslexic and dysgraphic.”

The actress said that it was “through hard work, determination, [and] remediation” that her son was able to overcome the “misunderstood learning difference.” She added that for her family, dyslexia and dysgraphic has been a “blessing.”