Dear Callum,

It’s almost spring break, and that means we’re nearing the end of preschool for you.  The school year always seems to accelerate in the spring, and it won’t be long before you’re moving toward kindergarten.  I don’t expect it to be too tough a transition for you.  You love preschool, and it’s in the classroom right next to the kindergarten room to which I hope you’re assigned.  Your brothers both had the teaching team that uses that room, and it would be great if you did too.  I was talking to you yesterday about how you’ll be able to be a helper for the kids who are brand new to your school.  You didn’t seem entirely convinced by that idea, but I remain certain that you’ll make the adjustment without much trouble.

Photo by Gary Clarke

Today Miles had his science fair, and I was there when you and your classmates came through to his and all the other projects.  You were excited to see him, and he was just as excited to see you.  It was really cute to see you and your friends all throw his paper airplanes at the same time.

We had your school conference a week or so ago, and your teacher had nothing but good things to say.  At your fall conference, she said that one issue is that sometimes you’re spacey and don’t seem engaged in what the class is doing.  By now, they teachers have gotten to know you better, and she said that often when she thinks you’re spacing out, she’ll ask you a question about what they’re doing and you always know the answer.  I think you sometimes look spacier than you really are; you’re actually listening and paying attention, even if it doesn’t seem like you’re actively involved.

You’ve done a good job adjusting to our temporary house.  Since you’re sharing a room with your brothers just like normal, you’ve been sleeping well and haven’t seem distressed.  You have all your favorite stuffed friends, your pajamas, and your usual bedtime stories.  We stopped by our old house (Homer, as we’ve been calling it), and it looked pretty different.  You were interested and went under the protective barrier between the under-construction area and the normal area lots of times.  The normal area is not even completely normal because a lot of the stuff from the under-construction area is moved in there.  You didn’t seem upset at all, though, just curious.  Before we started the project and moved we talked a lot about what was going to change and what wasn’t, and how the most important thing is that we’d always stick together.  You seem to have absorbed that well.  It will be nice when the project is over and we have a fancy new kitchen and dining room, but in the meantime, we’re all doing fine.

Our spring break trip is coming up next week, and we’ve decided to go for it despite the world-wide coronavirus problem.  Our destination has zero cases, notably fewer than our hometown, so as long as we keep our fingers out of our noses and mouths on the plane and wipe down all the armrests and touchscreens, it seems like a reasonable thing to do.  I know I need some ocean time to feel like a normal person again.  We’re going to keep things very low-key and avoid touristy spaces.  It’s going to be pool and beach, reading in the condo, pool and beach, cocktail hour, pool and beach, until it’s time to go.  Then we’ll wipe down all our surfaces again and head back to reality.  You might remember our last trip to the Keys when you had just turned three, but you’ll definitely remember this time.  I hope it’s all good memories.

Your current favorites:  “Skitter mix,” which is a lemonade and orange juice blend; bowls of shredded cheese; playing Candyland and Monopoly Junior (Super Mario version); the books The Gruffalo, Ollie Forgot, and If You Give a Moose a Muffin; cuddling; and playing Beyblades with Tobin.  You’ve been very interested in letters and words and are doing some good sounding-out.  Bedtime stories take longer now because you want to talk about a lot of the words, but I suppose it’s a good use of time in the long run.

I love your sweet smile, my special pup.  Thanks for being such a fun, good, cuddly little guy.

Love,

Mommy