Dear Tobin,

This is your last month of being ten. I’m sorry to say it doesn’t look like your major eleventh birthday event is going to happen in the same month as your birthday—your dad hasn’t gotten much work done on getting a patio and basketball court created in our yard, and the whole second half of the summer has gotten so busy that I don’t think we’ll get a trip done. You never did settle on a particular place, either. We had talked about the Great Lakes area of Minnesota or Michigan, or maybe Colorado, but it’s gotten late enough that I don’t think we’ll get it done this summer.

Fortunately, you have a back-up in mind. You asked to go to St. Louis for a getaway that includes the City Museum. My Covid-cautious gut screamed no, but after thinking it over, the idea holds some promise. You have a mini fall break in October, so we could go on a weekday when it would be less crowded. We’re all fully-vaccinated, and while that doesn’t do much in terms of not getting Covid (especially the outrageous contagious and immunity-evading BA.5), it does virtually guarantee that we wouldn’t wind up hospitalized. As long as we all wear high-quality masks, it doesn’t seem much worse than the school classroom you’ll be sitting in every day before too long. You even helped me do some research on condo rentals, and we found one that might be the exact same place we stayed a few years ago on a similar trip. It seems like a fun idea, and I think we should do it if we can.

Even though the last month has been really busy and sometimes stressful, it’s had lots of good moments, too. We kicked off the month with a trip to Innsbrook, Missouri, to a lake house we shared with Mubby, Skitter, Tyler, Oxana, Aleks, and Vera. You and Aleks bonded over your love of sports, especially baseball. You had a great time together, hanging out in the private hot tub, watching movies, playing foosball and darts, and enjoying the sports facilities and swimming pool. After you and Artemis expressed strong opinions on the topic of the tastiness of different brands of bottled water, Uncle Tyler orchestrated a blind taste test. The photo below illustrates you concentrating hard on your evaluation of what may have been Dasani, Aquafina, or tap water.

Another could of weird issues came up after we got home from Innsbrook. Our air conditioning broke and Callum tested positive for Covid. We all implemented protocols, masking indoors and sleeping in separate rooms. We kept windows open and fans running (an easy decision since we had no air conditioning). I was freaked out because Artemis had surgery scheduled later in the month, and I wanted to do my utmost to protect him. If he tested positive for COVID the day before surgery, it would have to be rescheduled, and it was already pushing the temporal boundaries of all the other things he needed to get done. It was a challenging position. We were all uncomfortable because of the hot house as we waited for an AC tech to come replace our air conditioner and furnace. Mubby and Skitter invited us to go to their house, but I didn’t want to take the chance of exposing them to COVID. We also considered having only Artemis and me go there, since we had tested negative. Art had his surgery coming up, and I had readings for my books, so we both especially wanted to stay healthy. On the other hand, we didn’t know if we were truly negative or just hadn’t tested positive yet, so we ended up staying home and continuing our protocols.

As Callum told the pediatrician at a doctor’s appointment earlier today, the bedtime routine you and I share involves making a wish every night. After Callum got that positive, you wished that it would be a false positive. Lo and behold, it was. After Callum got two negative rapid antigen tests, two negative PCR tests, and no one ever developing any symptoms, we decided that a false positive must have occurred. I knew false negatives were common, especially early in the progress of the disease, but I thought false positives were extremely rare. Later, your dad found out that his coworkers wife also had a false positive the day after Callum’s. I don’t know if there was some kind of problem at the lab during that timeframe or what happened, but we were all very grateful.

You were supposed to have Mubby & Skitter week at that time, and we did all go to Ames, but it wasn’t the parent-free event you were hoping for. Because it was going to take a while to get our AC fixed, your dad and I stayed in Ames with you. It probably wasn’t as much fun for you, but it was a lot nicer for your dad and me not to be sweating all night. We still had a good time, including a trip to the swimming pool, lots of basketball in the back yard, and visits to the park. You played poker, enjoyed Mubby Ice, and even busted out Uncle Tyler’s old saxophone. You really enjoyed noodling around on it and composed a one-measure song. It starts like “Beautiful Dreamer” but ends up going a different direction.

You’ll be eligible to start school band next year, so I hope you’re able to play that sax. You’re still taking bass lessons, currently over Zoom, though you prefer to do them in person. I like that you do them online, partly because it’s a hassle to drive you to Coralville and back for your lessons, and partly because your teacher just had COVID for the second time. I have the impression he’s not as careful as someone should be if you’re going to be in a small room together. You’ll also start soccer in the fall, which is the first time since preschool that you’ve played on a soccer team. Several of your friends play, and I’m more comfortable with you playing an outdoor sport right now rather than returning to taekwondo. I hope you can do that at some point, but with cases surging at the moment, soccer seems like a good choice.

I know that it’s pretty likely our family will get COVID at some point, especially with school starting again soon. I hate to just resign myself to it, though, because it’s such a roll of the dice as to the severity of any specific case. I also have a couple of friends who have really struggled with long COVID. If the rest of your life is going to be a series of COVID infections, I want to do as much as I can to minimize risk while you still have to listen to me.

Your current favorites: biking around the neighborhood with Kit and Esmé, Flamin’ Hot Barbecue Ruffles, peanut butter crackers and milk, Star Wars movies, popcorn, the Spy School book series by Stuart Gibbs, helping plan trips, and being at the center of any action that is happening (even when the action does not pertain to you).

You’re such a sweet and thoughtful kid. You always ask how other people are doing, and the other day, you bought me a pack of cherry sours. Those are one of my favorite candies, and you got them for me at Casey’s when you biked there with your friends. I almost don’t want to open the bag because it makes me smile so much seeing it on my dresser, knowing it’s from you.

I am looking forward to celebrating your eleventh birthday next month, even if it’s hard to fathom that my squishy baby could be that old. I’m glad you’re still squishy on the inside.

Love,

Mom