Dear Callum,

Here we are, once again in the month of May.  This is probably the worst month of the year for you.  First of all, you have terrible allergies.  Every May, you get red, itchy eyes and itchy skin.  Right now you have a stuffy nose, too, but that might be a cold on top of your allergies.  Compounding those issues is the fact that this is a ridiculously busy time for your brothers’ activities.  By now you’re probably used to being shuffled around from one of their commitments to another, and it doesn’t leave a lot of time to do special things just for you.  I hope once the activities settle down a little bit in July or so, we can do more things where you’re a more active participant.  I understand the Ped Mall fountain is going to be up and running again, and I bet you’ll enjoy that.

At your request, we did make cookies the other day.  The impetus behind that project was a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts for some supplies I needed.  Your dad gets annoyed that every time we go somewhere, it seems like you come back with a treat of some kind.  Little does he know how many errands we run where you don’t get a treat.  It’s most of them.  But JoAnn’s is full of enticing things.  This time you talked me into a squeeze bottle of frosting, so of course we had to make cookies so you could decorate them.

You did a very good job—in fact you were a lot more careful than I expected you to be.  I wasted more paper towels than I should have in preemptive drip collection.  You were very, very proud to show the cookies to your brothers and share them, and they were very happy to taste your creations.

Your brothers’ love and attention is what you want most in the whole world, and sometimes you don’t go about getting it in very productive ways.  During one of our many seemingly interminable car rides to Coralville, you are as likely to hit or kick Tobin as you are to interact nicely with him.  I think you just get overwhelmed by how much you missed him during the school day, and when he doesn’t immediately pay attention to you, you make poor choices demanding his focus.  You’ve also had some negative behaviors around the house lately, like throwing the bag that contained the pieces of Tobin’s precious not-Rubik’s cube.  He was pretty upset until we tracked down all the pieces.

Oh, and you bit him once, hard enough to leave a full circle of teeth marks.  Not cool.  You caught some hell for that one, and I really hope it sank in (into your brain, that is, not your brother’s flesh).  You’ll be starting preschool in the fall, and that is absolutely not going to fly in the classroom.

The good news in that scenario is that you’ll get to go to preschool at Lucas, the same schools your brothers attend.  When I registered you for the district’s public preschool program, it was mostly as a back-up.  Tobin went to the district preschool and had a good experience, and it’s nice how it’s free, so that was our original plan for you.  Then I realized that between the time Tobin went and now, the schedule changed so that it either starts (for morning preschool) or ends (for afternoon preschool) at the same time as all the other students in the school.  When Tobin went, preschool started somewhat later, so we were able to get Miles to Lucas and Tobin to Hoover fairly conveniently.  Since there has never been a preschool at Lucas, I figured you would be assigned to either Longfellow or New Hoover.  There’s no reasonable way for us to get to two different schools at the same time, so I looked into other options and had mostly settled on another local private preschool that had a more convenient schedule.

When the time came for the district preschool registration, I looked at the form and saw that Lucas was listed as one of the options.  That surprised me deeply, and I asked the secretary, Tobin’s teacher, and the principal.  They all assured me that no, Lucas wasn’t going to have a preschool.  I shrugged my shoulders and selected it as my first choice, figuring it was probably an error and we’d end up sending you to the private preschool.  I was equally surprised when I got an email confirming your registration at Lucas.  Again, I asked the secretary and some teachers, and nobody had heard a thing.

A while later, I was at Lucas doing some volunteer work, and three different staff members excitedly approached me and told me there would, in fact, be preschool at Lucas.  It’s kind of weird that even the principal didn’t know until after the district had confirmed your registration with me, but I guess it will all work out.

I asked my friend who works in another district preschool about your future teacher, Mrs. Weis, and while she doesn’t know her personally, she said she’s heard Mrs. Weis is great.  I was a little nervous about how you’d handle the big change that is going to preschool, but I think it will be the best possible scenario to go to the school you’ve visited many, many times.  You already know where the drinking fountains are.

Better yet, I’ll have all my boys in the same school for one year.  I never expected that to happen.  I’ll even have a yearbook with all your pictures in it, I think.  As the person in charge of the yearbook, I bet I can make that happen.

It will be good to get you out with other kids your age, since most of your interactions are with Miles and Tobin and their friends.  I hope you learn some positive strategies for having fun with other kids.  I don’t mean to sell you short, as you and your brothers often have a great time together.  I just want to make sure you don’t get expelled from Lucas for biting and dash my dream of having everyone together.

You’ve probably been having a hard time lately because you’ve been feeling crummy.  It would be hard to be a kind and patient person when your eyes are puffy and itchy all the time.  Maybe some day we’ll find an effective allergy treatment for you (we’ve tried, and the allergist pretty much just tells us that you’re not old enough for allergy shots, which are his only recourse).

We don’t get outside much, due to trying to keep you de-pollinated, but we have fun when we do.  You got to play outside in the rain the other day, and we’ve had a few nice trips to the park to play with bubbles and Silly String.  Soon the May flowers will die and you can go out and enjoy the June blossoms.  I know we’ll find lots of ways to enjoy our last summer before you start school.

Love,

Mommy