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Happy Birthday, Ellery Harper Walker! Laura Dern gushed about her older child, as he celebrated his 21st on Monday, August 21. The actress, 55, shared both a throwback photo of her son as well as a more current picture alongside her daughter Jaya Harper, 17, and her mom Diane Ladd, 86, on her Instagram. It looked like the whole family were having a blast celebrating the Oscar-winner’s grown-up son.

Ellery stood between his mom and grandma for the photo, as his younger sister cozied up to Diane. He smiled as he stood next to his mom. While his curly hair is similar to his mom’s, his facial hair does mark a resemblance to his dad Ben Harper. Ben and Laura got married in 2005, but they finalized their divorce in 2013. Jaya and Ellery are their only kids together, but Ben does have a son and daughter from his first marriage.

In the caption, Laura gushed about her son, calling him the “Greatest gift I could have ever dreamt up.” Besides wishing him a happy 21st, she also shared some of the wonderful qualities that make him an amazing son. “You teach me every day…about art..empathy..and grace. You are a profound human and artist. And you are such a kind and amazing man. I’m so blessed and lucky to love you and learn from you. And you make me laugh every day,” the Marriage Story actress wrote.

Laura rarely posts photos of either of her kids, and it’s clear that the mom likes to keep her family life relatively private. Even though she doesn’t regularly post Ellery, Laura has shown that her son has a strong interest in fashion and photography. As the COVID-19 pandemic continued in July 2020, her son took a few photos of her for a Valentino campaign.

Other than taking photos of his mama, Laura has also gushed about being “proud” of her son when he made his runway debut at New York Fashion Week, where he walked for Calvin Klein in September 2018, which she shared on her Instagram.