Dear Tobin,

Once again, you have filled the month with enthusiasm and brightness. I can always count on you to have a project, an idea, some new hobby or interest. Sometimes your passions align with holidays, which is handy for gift-giving, but other times they fade before whatever related item I chose has shipped. For that reason, the Jurassic Park t-shirt I ordered for you is going straight into your dresser as soon as it arrives, rather than waiting for Christmas.

We watched the original Jurassic Park movie for a family movie night a couple of weeks ago, and you really got excited about the idea. You love family movie nights in general, especially because you get to spread out a blanket and have popcorn downstairs, which is typically not allowed in an effort to preserve the new carpet. This time, the movie was a particularly big hit with you. You’ve watched two of the sequels already and started reading the book on your Kindle. I read that book when I was in high school, so I wondered if it would be too challenging for you, but you seem to really be enjoying it. It might help that you’ve seen the movie first, so you have a general familiarity with the concepts. I don’t think it’s a great work of science or literature, but maybe it will push you into an area of further exploration. None of you kids ever got as excited about dinosaurs as I was when I was young, so perhaps now is the moment that we can ooh and aah at dinosaur skeletons in a museum together.

Halloween was good fun as usual. I’m glad you’re still enthusiastic about Halloween events and like homemade costumes. This year you chose to be a Tusken Raider, which I learned is a Star Wars character and totally unrelated to the north of Italy. I spent a lot of time and hot glue making you a costume, and I think it turned out pretty darn well. You were very excited about it and appreciative. It was very fun to collaborate with you on that project, comparing different inspiration photos and assessing materials and strategies. Our kitchen island was covered in scraps of fabric, craft foam, toilet paper rolls, and dabs of paint for several weeks.

Your school doesn’t do Halloween parties anymore, which is a bummer, but you still got to trick or treat in the neighborhood and go to a trunk-or-treat event sponsored by your dad’s workplace. I doubt you would ever say you got enough candy, but you certainly got a respectable quantity. You and Callum have an ongoing conversation about how you would rate and rank the various candies you received. You’re a big Butterfinger fan.

The rest of the fall has been busy as usual, with soccer, Family Folk Machine, playing saxophone in the school band, and bass lessons. You had been doing your bass lessons on Zoom, but you’re going to switch to in-person starting next week. It’s a bigger hassle for me, since your teacher’s studio is in Coralville, which means traffic and winter driving. You prefer in-person lessons, though, and I want to do what I can to make your music-learning experience the best it can be. You’ll have your first school band concert in a couple of weeks. It will probably be a shock for us audience members, because we’ve grown accustomed to the level of performance that the high school band provides. Listening to a bunch of fifth graders who have been playing their instruments for two months might be a big jarring. In any case, I’m proud of you for starting your saxophone journey. It’s hard to say whether you’ll continue with it like Art has; I could see you putting your focus into sports or other activities rather than music. Still, I’m glad you’re part of it and getting the experience.

We had your school conference recently, and your teacher said she loves having you in her class. She mentioned that you’re always willing to volunteer to answer a question or explain a problem in front of the class. You’re also getting better about not being too talkative at inappropriate times. One comment she made that made especially glad was how caring you are. She has two little kids, and one had been sick recently. She said that you often asked how he was doing and really seemed concerned about him (he’s okay now). Caring about others is a fundamental quality I want my kids to have, and it made me so proud to know you’re displaying that.

Another major family accomplishment this month was the making of New York style pizza. You found a YouTube video that described a method and recipe, and we gathered up the ingredients and made it happen. We ended up having to combine a couple of different techniques due to local availability of certain ingredients and hardware. It was a great success. The pizza was delicious, the process was fun, and most of the family got involved. I’ve been impressed lately with your interest in food, both from the perspectives of trying new foods and being part of the cooking process. It’s nice to see you being brave about new flavors and wanting to be on the creative end as well. You’re my kitchen buddy, and I love that about you.

Your current favorites: board games, Jurassic Park, YouTube, playing with your friends, playing outside, audiobooks, grey t-shirts and your fuzzy blue hoodie, being silly and goofy, and watching shows with your dad. You and your siblings verbally spar a lot, but it’s almost always good-natured. You don’t let things get you down too much, and your low moments never last long. I can always count on a Tobin smile.

I love you so much, my sunshine son.

Love,

Mom