Dear Tobin,

Happy ninth birthday, my sweet boy!  This is the first year in a long time that this hasn’t been a very busy week.  Typically your birthday falls right around a lot of back-to-school events, and it’s even fallen on the first day of school once or twice.  This year, with the school year starting after Labor Day and no meet-and-greets scheduled, it’s a little anticlimactic.  You’ll be doing all-online school for at least a trimester, and I’m so grateful we have that choice.  The New York Times published a list of the cities in the US with the fastest-growing COVID-19 positivity rates, and our community was number 3.  This is surely related to the influx of university students who have come into town in the last week, and the photos I’ve seen of them crammed together in bars is truly disturbing.  I realize the brains of most 18-22-year-olds are in a state of development that prioritizes social and romantic bonds over safety, so I can’t truly blame them (although it’s hard not to be angry).  What I do wish is that our leadership had taken the bold step of shutting down bars, because there is really no safe way to behave in the bar environment.

Fortunately, our family can continue our strategy of staying home.  We can get grocery deliveries and restaurant take-out for a treat, play poker, video games, and watch Netflix for entertainment, squirt each other with water-squirters, and learn online.  We are okay.  You, my eternal optimist, are okay.  Also, you are nine.  Wow.

I call you an eternal optimist because you’ve had a sunshiney nature since you were a tiny baby.  Getting smiles out of you has always been an easy task.  You do tend to worry, though.  Every night before I leave your bed, you make me promise not to leave you.  I thought it had gotten to the point where it was just a formality and a cute ritual, but a couple of nights ago, you fell asleep before I left.  I still kissed you goodnight and said my usual, “I love you and I promise never to leave you,” but you didn’t hear me.  I went downstairs and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed myself.  When I opened the bathroom door, you startled the crap out of me by standing right in the doorway.  “Do you promise never to leave me?” you asked.  I said yes and sent you back upstairs to bed.

It’s kind of weird because really, you’re the kid of mine I think is most likely to venture far.  You’re the one I can see traveling the world or setting up a research station on a remote coastline. I’m not sure where this fear of abandonment came from, but you lose your mind if you can’t track where you dad and I are every minute.  I hope when, in the mythical future, you start doing things out of the house again, you are able to readjust.  You and your brothers have your squabbles, and sometimes your dad and I get frustrated with your constant need to be moving and commenting on everything, but mostly we’ve been getting along well.  It will be nice when you get your school-issued Chromebook and we can set up individual learning spaces for you and your brothers in the house.

We’ll have more space soon, since our house addition and renovation are getting close to finished.  We’re anticipating the interior work to be done (minus flooring in the lower level—I’m not sure how we’ll structure our days when people are working on that) within the next week, and then we can head home to reestablish our routine before school starts.  Your dad and sometimes I have been making trips home every week or two, so we’ve been seeing the progress in increments, but you and your brothers haven’t been there in a long time.  It’s going to be a shock to see all the changes, but I hope you love it.  I can see you really enjoying the balcony bar area that overlooks the park.  You are really pushing for bold color choices, while your dad and I lean more toward neutrals.  An exception is the tile backsplash in the kitchen, which is a vibrant blue.  You appreciated that when you saw it in a picture.

You lost another tooth, which has been useful for corn-on-the-cob season.  You were having a hard time with it when your tooth was loose, but now you’re ready to chomp again. We’ve been eating well here at Mubby and Skitter’s, and while you aren’t the bravest guy ever about trying new things, you’ve done a good job with a variety of fruits and vegetables.  You appreciate a good salad, and you also get excited about bell peppers, carrots, and pineapple.

Skitter has noted that you are a person who is always ready to help.  You enjoy a good project, and he’s enlisted your help on a few different things around the house and yard.  One of those jobs was a big one. We had a huge, weird storm earlier in the month called a derecho, which took down a special tree here and did even worse damage elsewhere.  You and your brothers (but you, the most enthusiastic) were a great help in cleaning up tree branches and other storm detritus. We were without power here for 3 days, and it was closer to 9 days at home.  It’s gone on even longer in the Cedar Rapids/Marion area, which received the brunt of the storm.  It wasn’t comfortable to be without air conditioning in August, but we were more fortunate than many, in that neither Mubby and Skitter’s nor our house or property was significantly damaged.  I’m grateful that we had a big tree limb removed from the enormous sycamore tree in our yard at home a while back, because that could be in your dad’s and my bedroom right now if we hadn’t.

We had a really fun day on your birthday.  Even though we didn’t get to most of the things we’d typically do to celebrate (the trampoline park, a party with friends, a trip to the water park with Aunt Suzy and Uncle Joe), you still say you had a great time.  You, your dad, Callum and I went out to the Ledges, a state park near Mubby and Skitter’s house with a shallow creek perfect for kids.  You and Callum had a lot of fun splashing around.  We picked up Casey’s pizza for lunch, which is your latest favorite food, opened presents, had ice cream cake, had beef and snow pea stir fry for dinner, and watched a movie and had popcorn.  You also got some time in with your new Nintento Switch Pro Controller and Super Mario Odyssey game.

Your current favorites: pizza, shooting hoops with your dad, Napoleon Dynamite (both for viewing and for quoting), watching videos with your dad while I tuck Callum in, listening to audio books, and having crazy hair.  Since third grade was the year we caved and let Miles starting growing out his hair, you insist that you now deserve the same.  I suppose it’s only fair, but your hair is a lot poofier than his, and it could end up being quite a helmet.  You did let me trim the rat tail that was growing down your neck, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

Happy ninth birthday, my joyful, outrageous, hilarious, and energetic pup.  Your spirited nature keeps us tired, but it also generates a lot of laughs.  We all need those right now, and I need you always.

Love,
Mom

Dear Callum,

You are a curious little guy.  We were just out for a walk, and we traveled a total of about six city blocks, and it took us forty-five minutes because you needed to stop and examine every plant, stick, and feather you saw.  You found a big feather, and you flapped it around for a long time, assuring me frequently that if you just had another one, you might really be able to fly.  I’ll have to read you the book Leonardo and the Flying Boy when we get home, which is all about Leonardo da Vinci’s attempts at building a wing apparatus suitable for human use.

We are recovering now from the effects of a serious storm called a derecho that ravaged Iowa last week.  Because we didn’t have air conditioning for several days, the upstairs bedroom where you and your brothers sleep was truly unusable.  We spread out over various beds and futons on the main floor, which wasn’t perfect but was better.  You slept with me in the bed where your dad and I usually sleep.  One night I got all excited because I thought I heard the air conditioning power on, but it turned out it was you snoring.  You are a very athletic sleeper, and I got more than one kick to the kidneys, but overall it wasn’t so bad.  You were happy to be with me, since you’re still a very Mom-loving kid.  I got to dust off my old co-sleeping skills from when you were smaller.  My best trick is the pillow shield.

Skitter has trapped six raccoons to date since we arrived here, and he caught a few more prior to our arrival.  You always want to see them and name them.  His electric fence was damaged in the storm, so we were extra pleased to see a  specimen in the trap yesterday morning.  You and your brothers named the most recent one Nacho Libre, because he was chubby and athletic like the titular character in a movie we watched the other night.

We’ve been enjoying as much time outside as we can, which is all the sweeter now that we can go back into the air-conditioned house when we get too hot or the mosquitoes get too bitey.  We’ve taken lots of walks to the park and around the neighborhood.  I know you wish we could do our usual fun things like trips to the arcade and the swimming pool, but you’ve done a good job keeping your spirits up.  It helps that you’re equally happy playing with your brothers and spending time by yourself.  I think that will serve you well in online kindergarten, when you’ll have to do a mix of interacting with others and working on your own.  It will be good to get back to our house, which can hopefully happen before school starts, because we’ll be able to set up learning stations for you and your brothers and apply some structure to your life.  Right now your only standing appointment is afternoon treat time.

You alternate between serious and silly.  Your vocabulary is large and funny.  You often use words I wouldn’t expect a five-year-old to use, not because they’re particularly unusual, but just because they make you sound like an old man (or, as a friend commented, like a member of the Bloomsbury Group).  “It appears that the Switch needs to be charged,” you might say, or “Thank you, good sir” after I rinse your hair in the bathtub.

You are currently sporting two Band-Aids on your leg for a minor injury that didn’t even bleed.  You really enjoy abundant sympathy.  You requested one hundred kisses on your palm after a mild wipe-out on your bike this morning, and this time I had the good sense to stop after ten.  The last time you asked for one hundred kisses, I really did it, and after I was done, you asked for a thousand.  There’s not enough lip balm at the Ecolips factory for that

Your current favorites:  ice cream treats on the back patio, pepperoni pizza, Skitter’s smoked meats, zooming around on your Strider bike, the Legend of Zelda on the Switch, cuddling, and reading the same Berenstain Bears stories at bedtime every night.  You’ve also been into the Scaredy Squirrel series, which I personally prefer.

You remind me of your brothers in some ways, but in other ways, you’re like no one but yourself.  Despite the tough circumstances, I’ve really enjoyed having extra time with you over the longest summer ever.  I look forward to watching you continue to learn and grow as we chug ahead.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Miles,

I write this nine days after your actual month birthday, which is possibly the latest I’ve ever been.  This time I have a good excuse: last Monday, a rare storm called a derecho ripped through Iowa.  It was like a tornado in its strength, but rather than moving in a rotating fashion, the winds were straight.  It was also much more wide-spread in its damage than a tornado, with almost all of Iowa and parts of surrounded states suffering the effects.  We’re still at Mubby and Skitter’s house in Ames, and the damage was serious here, but it was even worse in eastern Iowa.  The Cedar Rapids area bore the worst of it.  Our neighbors and contractor assure us that our house wasn’t damaged, though we did lose a big tree limb and the electrical line going to our house was torn off.  Here in Ames, we lost the ash tree I planted as a third-grader.  That made me sad, but luckily the house is fine, no one was hurt, and there was only minimal damage to the property.  You and Tobin did a great job helping Skitter clean up the tree detritus in the yard.

We got power back in Ames after a little over 72 hours, which was torturous enough in August in Iowa, but many of our friends back in Iowa City suffered longer.  We’re not sure if our street has power yet, and our house probably doesn’t due to the torn power line.  I’m glad we’re safe and comfortable here, and we’ll pour some out for the lost contents of the fridge and freezers when we get back.  I’m most sad to see my entire garlic crop go.  The last time I was in Iowa City, I trimmed it and put it all in our basement freezer, which is surely thawed and disgusting by now.  I hope I can rescue enough tomatoes from the garden to make some sauce for you.  Fortunately, we were on our last freezer container here in Ames, so we didn’t have to throw much out, and after we regained power I was able to make a big batch from Skitter’s crop.  I bet I’ll be able to make more to take home, too.  Since homemade tomato sauce is one of your major sources of nutrients, I really like to feed it to you as much as I can.

We still don’t have Internet service here, which is challenging for you, but having the power back at least means you can play Switch and WiiU.  You and your brothers have been doing a lot of that, and during the days without power, you did a lot of reading.  We all got a little off-schedule.  Time is blurry enough during these COVID days, but getting take-out on a days other than take-out Sunday was confusing, and your dad couldn’t do a lot of work without reliable Internet.  Skitter did a lot of cooking on the grill.  His biggest triumph was boiling water on the grill, which led to coffee for him and me, tea for your dad, and pasta for you.  The whole family even had grill-boiled pasta for dinner one night, and I think we all felt like we understood you a little better because of it.

Another result of the blurring of time was a delay in the weekly publication of the Clarke-Crall times, but you got that up yesterday.  I always get a kick out of reading your spin on the week’s events.  You have a sharp wit, and I legitimately look forward to seeing what you have to say.

The start of school has been delayed until September 8, which doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference to you since we’ll be doing the online option.  The last I heard, about 40% of families in our district have chosen that option, and pretty much all your friends are in that 40%.  I know you’re disappointed not to be able to go back to school, but if few of your friends would have been there anyway, it probably wouldn’t have been much fun.

It will be an interesting and unusual start to the school year.  I’m not optimistic that our community’s COVID-19 caseload will drop any time soon, since the university students are coming back to town.  Based on photographic evidence, many of them are not being even a little bit careful about wearing masks and social distancing, and they’re partying in big groups as if everything is normal.  I would have been pretty disappointed if the COVID pandemic had happened during my college years, because I did plenty of socializing in big groups too, but it’s so disheartening to see people ignoring the pleas of doctors and scientists.  I really feel for the professors and instructors who will have to share classroom space with them soon.

Your FilmScene animation camp was all-online. and you seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.  I think you missed the social side of it, especially playing Werewolf with your classmates during lunch break, but you still had a good time and did some creative work.  It wasn’t as collaborative as usual, but you had a houseful of interesting things to animate.  You made some innovative choices with stuffed animals and decorative turtles.  I hope it served as a good introduction to online learning, since you’re going to have to do a lot of that soon.  I’m really not too concerned about you; you’ve always been focused and self-motivated, and sitting in front of a screen all day is not something you consider a burden.  I hope you can continue to hang out, whether virtually or carefully in person, with your Bro Train friends and eventually go to school in a traditional way.  Seventh grade is such an important time for social development, and I thank you for keeping a mostly-good attitude as we make uncomfortable but necessary adjustments.

Your current favorites: Beavis & Butthead books from Uncle Tyler’s collection, ice cream breaks in the afternoon, Super Mario Brothers (the original, which I played as a kid too), Mario Maker, Chex Mix (which you made yesterday with only minimal guidance from Mubby), sleeping with your feet hanging off the bed, chatting online with the Bro Train when technology allows, and pasta.

This has been, perhaps, the weirdest week of the weirdest summer of the weirdest year.  I appreciate your patience, which is not bottomless but is still pretty good most of the time.  I appreciate your sense of humor and the improvements in your maturity and self-control.  You’re a good guy to have around.

Love,
Mom