Dear Callum,

This month has a been a big deal for you. You finished second grade just splendidly, happy and accomplished. You made friends, did fantastically on your school work, and made your teacher wish she could keep you for another year. I’m so, so proud of how well you transitioned to in-person school. You’re a rock star. We were happy to see that you qualified for ELP next year, so you’ll be able to continue with teacher who taught your enrichment classes this year. You really like her, and she’s retiring after the 2023-24 school year, so I’m glad you’ll get one more year with her. Third grade marks the beginning of the “big kid” designation at your school. It’s hard for me to fathom that you could have such a label, but time is relentless. Tobin was going into third grade when the pandemic began, and that whole timeframe has been such a blur. If this school year is a good indicator, I know you’ll do great in third grade and beyond.

You participated in the school team spelling bee for the first time, as it’s the first time it’s been held since you’ve been eligible. You studied hard, putting in lots of hours into learning and reviewing the long list of words. Your hard work paid off, because you and your teammates came home with the victory. Your big sibling Artemis was even one of the judges, so it was great to have it be a whole-family event. Don’t worry–they didn’t cheat for you. You and your teammates won fair and square. I was proud of you for standing your ground on the word icicle. It was a hard one, but you knew it.

We think we’re on a good path in terms of your health. After an upper and lower endoscopy (which is a big deal for anyone, but especially for an eight-year-old), you were diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. That’s an autoimmune disorder that affects your digestive system, causing inflammation, pain, and frequent bowel movements. While you do suffer from some pain sometimes, the issue that your doctor most wants to address in the short term is the flattening of your growth curve. You haven’t grown much in the last year, despite your good appetite, because your intestines aren’t getting all the nutrition they should be extracting from your food. Your GI team prescribed Humira injections, which you’ll do every other week for the foreseeable future. It will take up to twelve weeks to know if it’s working, but we’re hopeful that by the end of the summer, you’ll be feeling a lot better and ready to do all the fun things a third grader should do.

I’m grateful for a lot of things, including the fact that your case doesn’t seem to be terribly severe. There is another treatment option that involves IV infusions, and that’s not necessarily off the table if the Humira injections don’t work, but the doctor said it’s more often used in cases more severe than yours. Another advantage to Humira is that we can do the injections at home. Infusions are less frequent but require a trip to the clinic, and they’re pretty lengthy, so you’d have to miss at least a half day of school each time. I’m a little nervous about doing your injections, but your dad has offered to be the one who does them most of the time. I want to know how to do it, because I surely will need to at some point, but I’m glad he’s able to take the lead. We’re going to do the first one at the specialty pharmacy under the guidance of the pharmacist, and after that we’ll do them at home. There’s a lot to learn about the drug, in terms of storage and administration, but I’m confident we can handle it. We’re smart and brave, just like you.

I asked if you’ll be needing ice cream after every shot, and you told me that you certainly will. I suppose that’s all right, since weight gain is one of the goals anyway.

So far this summer, you’ve had fun singing with Family Folk Machine at Arts Fest, playing lots of baseball and soccer, playing with friends, and attending the Parks & Rec camp in the park by our house. So far, not very many kids have shown up for that, but you’ve enjoyed having a lot of interaction with the counselors. You tried to teach one of them to play chess, but I’m not sure sure how well it went. You’re confident and ready to jump into the action. I walked over with you the first day, only because I wanted to. You didn’t care whether I was around or not. Tobin also offered to go with you the first time to help you get acclimated, but you didn’t feel that was necessary either. I admire how willing you are to try things and get involved.

Your current favorites: hanging out with the other little brothers who watch the Senior League baseball games, your Vitamin D supplement gummies, steak, playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, watching Scooby Doo with Tobin, taking showers (you don’t need help washing, but you like to have company in the bathroom, especially Tobin’s), sleeping shirtless, eating frozen yogurt and ice cream, and reading the Humphrey book series. We’re going to have to find some good audiobooks for our upcoming road trip, because you’ve been in a bit of a Humphrey rut, and it will be refreshing to get some new literature in our lives.

Next month at this time, I’m sure I’ll have lots of stories from our trip, which will include lots of outdoor adventure and time with cousins. I hope you feel good and can have a ton of fun this summer.

Love,

Mommy