Dear Callum,

You are such a lovable, sweet little boy. You’re cuddly, tender, and caring. Sometimes your tenderness can be overwhelming, and you often get teary about things I didn’t realize would upset you. We’ve started reading The Tale of Despereaux at bedtime, which I thought you would like, because you’re a big fan of Kate DiCamillo’s other books. Despereaux is bleaker, though, with a lot of death and mistreatment of people and rodents. We’ve had some emotional bedtimes. You were a bit distraught last night when a child was freed from slavery because you were worried about the sheep she had previously been tasked with tending. Fortunately, you’re beginning to gain some perspective; you no longer beg me to take a picture whenever there’s a cute illustration of a duck or a turtle in your math book.

School is continuing to go great for you. You participate with vigor and you’re becoming more independent in your learning. This is nice for me. Last year I needed to sit with you for pretty much the entire school day, but now you’re able to learn and participate with your teacher and classmates mostly on your own. I join you for independent work time to make sure you’re getting your assignments done, but your teacher has organized the day so those periods are minimal. I do look forward to you joining in-person classmates eventually, but I couldn’t have asked for a better online first grade experience. Your reading skills are taking off at an amazing rate, and you are doing well in math and the other subjects too. You’ve been doing math ELP and holding your own just fine.

Your biggest challenges involve staying focused and time management. Sometimes you get so invested in a tiny detail of one of your assignments that you run out of time to get all the work done. It will be interesting to see if that issue persists once you’re back in-person. I suspect online school requires more time management than a typical classroom, so maybe you’ll be ahead of the game with the skills you’ve developed at home.

I’m hoping you’ll be able to join in at Family Folk Machine soon. We’re hoping to start in-person rehearsals next month, assuming the Covid cases continue to drop and reach a reasonable level. We have a lot of safety protocols in place, including a vaccine requirement for all members, including kids, and the requirement that participants wear high-quality masks. I’m still being extra vigilant and strict about mask-wearing and risk avoidance within our family. Partly, that’s just my nature. I’ve also set a mental goal of our spring break trip. I would hate for us to have to reschedule it (though I did buy travel insurance for just that reason, because I always feel better with a backup plan). I’ve told myself we can relax within reason once we’ve successfully completed that journey.

Warmer weather will bring more opportunities for outdoor fun, too, which will be a refreshing change. You had such a great time at our neighborhood park summer program last year. I really hope they do it again this summer, though I’m not sure they will because our park is scheduled for a remodel. In any case, we’ll have to get you into some more activities. You have your older siblings as socialization points, but hanging out more with kids your age would be a good idea before school starts in the fall. You haven’t done nearly as many lessons and sports and activities as your siblings were doing at your age, because the pandemic derailed a lot of our plans. It would be good to get you into piano lessons, swimming lessons, maybe a soccer team or Taekwondo. Here’s to hoping the pandemic is petering out, or maybe improved vaccine boosters will come along that will be more effective against future variants. I barely remember what “normal” is, but I hope we can find a reasonably safe way to get back to something resembling it.

Still, I will never regret the extra time I’ve gotten with you. You say and do funny things almost every day, and I love being there to enjoy them. I love that you’re still little enough to be sweet and sincere. I haven’t written about the Valentine’s Day card you made me, because I’m getting to this Callum Chronicle late and technically it belongs in next month’s letter, but I warn any future readers: it’s a heart-melter. I love how you enjoy participating in family traditions and routines, and I really can’t wait to engage in the beach-pool rotation with you. That’s one of my favorite routines, and enjoying it with you and your dad and siblings makes it all the more excellent. I’ve really missed traveling in the last couple of years. We’ve managed some smaller trips, but family vacations are one of my favorite things in the whole world. You can even open cans, now, so vacation cocktail hour has all kinds of possibilities.

Your current favorites: steak and Manchego cheese with plenty of pepper, pizza, class hangout with your online classmates on Friday afternoons, cuddling at bedtime, Wild Kratts, spelling out words instead of just saying them, doing home workouts, and watching Psych with your dad and siblings. You also love Minecraft time with Artemis and wrestling in the basement with Tobin. We put a futon mattress down there a few months ago during a time of stormy weather, and you haven’t let us move it. It has become a wrestling zone, a relaxation zone, and TV-watching zone. One of these days we’ll get a new basement couch and your dad can get his napping futon back in his office.

You are so much fun, Callum. I love your joy and enthusiasm and tenderness. I will miss spending every day with you and watching you learn and grow, so let’s enjoy the time we have left.

Love,

Mommy