My dear Miles,

I’m writing this a little early this month, because the next few days are going to be a period of non-stop activity.  On the horizon we have the school spelling bee, your dad’s birthday, and of course our trip to the Florida Keys.

Every morning over breakfast, we look at the extended weather forecast.  Though obviously things can change, right now the forecast is fantastic:  between 74 and 80 degrees, sunny or partly cloudy.  We’ve had a couple of treat days, but overall the last month has been gloomy and rainy/sleety/snowy, so we’re all excited about ditching the winter coats and soaking up some sunshine.  Based on satellite photos, our dear Marathon Key is going to look rather different after Hurricane Irma.  Some of the buildings we know appear to be totally gone.  One of our favorite restaurants is still in business, but in a different location due to hurricane damage.

I’m looking forward to a week without video games, since you and Tobin (and your dad) have gotten pretty Zelda obsessed lately.  I’m not too worried about you, since all you need to be happy is a notebook and a pencil.  You still enjoy writing your long, elaborate, adventure-based comics.  Sometimes you want to walk me through all 200+ panels, and I do a lot of smiling and nodding, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.

You’ve decided that you want to do both Let Me Run and baseball in the spring.  They don’t completely overlap, but the months of April and May are going to be a blur of activity.  You’ve picked out some summer classes you’re interested in taking.  We’ve only signed you up for one, but it was your highest priority:  the animation camp at Filmscene.  It’s a very cool program, and you loved it last year.  Fortunately you’ve advanced to the next age bracket, so you’ll get a whole new set of activities this time.  One interesting challenge is the fact that it’s an all-day camp and lunch is provided.  You’ve eaten school lunch exactly once in your life, when there was a mix-up about your bagged lunch, and I’m pretty sure you just at some pretzels and apple slices or something.  It’s a testament to how much you want to do animation camp that you’re willing to subject yourself to lunch outside your personal boundaries.  I hope you rise to the occasion and get some new favorites.  If not, I guess you’ll just have to eat a big breakfast and have a snack when you get home.

We had your school conferences last week, and your teacher had very fine things to say about you.  You’re doing well academically and socially, though you sometimes need reminders about when it’s appropriate to blurt out ridiculous things.  Your teacher suggests that it might be because you’re just bored—you and your friends often finish your work early and then get goofy because of the spare time on your hands.  One thing she does that I think is a good skill-building strategy is not prescribe exactly what you should be working on at any given moment.  She just gives you a general set of tasks and lets you prioritize them and work on them basked on your own judgment.  That’s a difficult task for many people, even college students and beyond, so I’m glad you’re getting some practice at it during elementary school.

You’ve had a good fourth-grade year.  It’s not done yet, but it all seems to fly by after spring break.  I can’t believe I’ll have to start thinking of you as a fifth grader soon.  That’s just crazy talk.  I wonder if you’ll be interested in a different haircut for fifth grade.  That will probably depend on whether your friend Daniel cuts his hair.  He’s part of your little gang of weirdos, though I don’t think he’s as weird as you.  I’m going to try to talk you into using a ponytail holder for all or some of your hair during our trip, because I’m afraid you’re going to be a big dripping mess on our many trips in and out of the pool and ocean.

A night or two ago, you lost a tooth, and you asked me not to tell Tobin because he hasn’t lost one yet and you didn’t want him to feel bad.  Seeing things from the perspective of others hasn’t always been a strength for you, so I felt very proud and glad about your development when you said that.  You’re well beyond the tooth fairy years, but you’re not one to turn down a little cash, so you did a good job pretending to be asleep when I slipped the envelope under your pillow at a reasonable hour.

I have to say that, overall, things have been going well for you lately.  You still have a hot-and-cold personality—it doesn’t help that your brothers (especially Tobin) know exactly how to set you off.  Sometimes you flip out over what I would consider minor things.  Clearly they’re not minor to you, so we’re always working on finding positive ways to manage your emotions and express them without screaming at people.  Those moments are getting more unusual, though.  You and Tobin played outside together for the longest time last weekend, and you’ve been giving Callum lots of sweet airplane rides (which may or may not adequately prepare him for our real airplane ride).

Your current favorites:  Legend of Zelda (like everyone in this family except Callum and me), pasta, drawing comics, privacy, Goldfish crackers, and talking about how weird you are.

You’re a little weird, yes, but as we’ve discussed many times, the most interesting people in history were weirdos.  Let your weirdness wiggle, my sweetheart.

Love,

Mom