My sweet Callum,

The first trimester of your first grade year is nearly done, and your dad and I are so proud of you. As I’ve said before, it’s certainly not ideal that you attended school online all last year and part of this year, but the upside is that I get to witness your academic growth in real time. It’s such a joy to watch you master new math concepts and to see your reading progress from hesitant to fluent. You love doing your science experiments (and I think your teacher loves the fact that it’s not her job to clean everything up). You’ve fallen in love with a literary pig named Mercy Watson. Last weekend, the weather was beautiful, so our family took a trip downtown. I had put some Mercy Watson books on reserve for you at the library, so I ducked in to grab them. As soon as I came back out, you lost all interest in playing on the playground, and you just wanted to read your books. You found a cozy tree nook and dived in. We’ve been reading them together at bedtime, alternating chapters between you reading and me reading, and I love hearing you. You’re expressive and confident, and you’re really getting the hang of recognizing words rather than having to sound each one out. I’m proud of your hard work, grateful for your wonderful teacher, Mrs. Davis, and happy that online school has been a good experience for you.

While you’ve done well in online school, your enrollment is going to change in January. We decided to have you go back to in-person school, partly because that’s the move a lot of families are making, and it’s likely that your teacher will get reassigned to in-person teaching. When I told you that, you got a little teary and said, in a shaky voice, “But I love her.” I love her too, Callum, and I’m so glad you got to have her for the first half of the year. But I’m sure you’ll love your new teacher, too. We don’t know who it will be yet. There two first grade sections at our neighborhood school. We know one of them but not the other, but I’ve heard good things about both. I’m sure it will be a bit of a transition, but it will help that Tobin will go to the same school as you. Most importantly, it will mark a huge milestone in our family: full vaccination for everyone.

I had to go back and look at last month’s letter to remember where we stood at that time regarding your vaccination: “I hope at this time next month I’m writing about you having completed your first COVID vaccine, or at least that we have it on the schedule.” I’m thrilled that we’re already over a week past your first dose, and your second one is coming up on December 1. Next month at this time, you’ll be counting down the days until you’ve completed your two-week wait before earning fully-vaccinated status. You did a great job getting your first vaccine, and the next day, you were excited to tell Mrs. Davis about it. She asked how you felt when it was over, and you said, “I felt safe.” You and me both, my sweet boy. You also really liked the revolving door at the clinic. We’re going to have to find some more of those around town.

You went trick-or-treating with your dad, Tobin, and some of his friends. I thought your Luigi costume turned out well, and I especially liked the finishing touch of having your mustache stuck to your mask. You got lots of candy, which you’ve been enjoying ever since. The weather was pretty nice, and I stayed home to distribute candy through a chute we made out of a shower curtain box. We got lots of trick-or-treaters. I think all the kids in the neighborhood were excited to get out and have some fun. You got home a while before the official end of the trick-or-treating period, and you had fun answering the door with me as well.

Our original strategy was for your dad to take the candy for you, rather than have you get too close to the homeowner, but he said you did not stick to that very well. I’ve also noticed in school that you can be impulsive, jumping out of your seat and running to tell me something that is not important for me to know at that moment. I hope when you get to school in-person you can conform to the requirements of the class. School is sort of unfairly designed to punish kids who have a hard time sitting still, but like it or not, it’s a skill you’ll need to develop.

Another fun fall event was getting together with Aunt Suzy and Uncle Joe. They were camping in our part of the state and even attended the Family Folk Machine concert. The previous evening, we joined them at their campground and had fun doing a little hiking, wood-splitting, and cooking out. They gave you a pocket knife for a gift, and you have barely let go of that thing ever since. There’s not a package in this house that’s safe. On a related note, the pretzels are now in a zip-lock bag, as their original packaging got gutted like a fish. You will not be taking your pocket knife to school, that’s for sure.

Your current favorites: Minecraft, Mrs. Davis, pizza, playing with your siblings, playing outside in the fall leaves, Moose Tracks ice cream, and dressing yourself. You love having chats with me in the minutes between bedtime stories and lights-out. You’re very tender-hearted, and a couple of nights ago I made the mistake of forgetting the ending to the book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. I gave a very, very abbreviated and sanitized version of why the World Trade Center towers are no longer there, and boy did it take a while to get your tears dried enough that you could get to sleep. You asked how I knew about it, and I said I saw it on TV, because I wasn’t there when it happened. You said, “You mean, it was real?” That launched a new wave of tears, because you are so empathetic that even fictional destruction is enough to wound you. Reality is harsher yet.

So yeah, the transition to in-person school may be a tough one, but I think it’s the right choice. As much as I want to hold you tightly forever and ever, I know that you cannot become the person you need to be until you venture out and experience the world. The world will be lucky to have you.

Love,

Mommy