Dear Tobin,

Every night before you go to sleep, we have a little ritual. You tell me what you wish for, ask me what I wish for, and tell me something special about your day. A lot of times by that point I’m pretty groggy, because I’ve usually just woken up after snoozing in Callum’s bed for a while. You, however, always have a lot to say in those moments and want to hear my thoughts too. Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with something in my stupor, so I just say that I wish us all to have a good night’s sleep. Your list is always much longer, often ending on something implausible, like wishing for twenty bags of name-brand chips. Then you’ll turn around and say something sweet, like how much you enjoyed the little Lunar New Year party Callum orchestrated. You’re a goofball and a sweetheart.

Over break, we played a lot of board and card games. You’re becoming a more gracious loser, which is an important skill for you to hone if you’re want to continue to be invited into group games. You start basketball this week, so I hope you can maintain the good sportsmanship you’ve been developing through games of spades, Selfish, Utter Nonsense, and poker. You were originally supposed to be on the same basketball team as a school friend, but his mom got the days mixed up and accidentally signed her son up for a different team. I’m not too worried about it, since you’re likely to know other kids on your team, whether from school or other sports and activities. Plus, even if you don’t, you’re good at making new friends and will surely find your place.

You haven’t had a sport since soccer ended in the fall, so you’re looking forward to getting into basketball again. The deadline is coming up for signing up for spring sports, and you’re trying to decide about soccer versus baseball. You really want to do both, and I trust that you could handle the busy schedule; however, as a person who drives to practices and attends games, I’m not sure I could. Add into the mix the fact that Callum wants to do one or both of those as well and that’s a whole lot sports-momming. I hope you pick soccer, because I find it a lot more palatable as a spectator, but I’m trying not to push my preferences on you too much.

Our holidays were nice and mostly calm. We ended up spending a week in Ames, because Suzy and Joe’s travel plans got delayed due to weather and we didn’t have much else to do. You and Skitter got matching aviator squirrel (sort of flying squirrel, but not exactly) t-shirts to replace the one he gave you when you were a toddler. It was your favorite shirt, but you’ve long since outgrown it, and I’ve been looking for a replacement ever since. It was exciting to find them, and you guys looked cute in your matching shirts.

We went ice skating twice while we were in Ames. It had been a while since you skated, but you got the hang of it pretty well. You were an enthusiastic coach for Callum, who was skating for the first time. You had minimal wipe-outs, and you bounced up from them without much damage to body or spirit. For some reason we don’t often get to the skating rink in Iowa City (technically Coralville, and technically in the Coral Ridge Mall, aka one of my least favorite places in the IC metro, so maybe I just pinpointed the reason). You did such a good job and had so much fun in the rink in Ames, though, that it might be a fun way to spend a free afternoon some time.

You’ve also been really into skateboarding lately. You used some of your Christmas money from Nana to buy a new skateboard, and after a few frustrating sessions and some extensive tweaking of the wheels and trucks, I think we got it rolling effectively. You’ve been gliding around on the path by our house whenever the weather permits, and you’re getting more and more consistent in your ollies. January is not a great time for skateboarding, so you haven’t had a ton of practice opportunities, but I predict that the spring will bring a lot of improvement. You were ill with some unspecified bug right before winter break, and it was alarming to see you lethargic. You slept, both on the couch and in your bed, for most of two days. You’ve fully bounced back now, but a low-energy Tobin is a sad thing to behold. I’m so glad you recovered in time to enjoy the holidays, ice skate, and skateboard.

Your current favorites: family movie nights with popcorn, helping make stir-fry for dinner, skateboarding, granola bars, hanging out with friends, online Minecraft games with friends, helping me plan our summer vacation to Ithaca, and jumping and bouncing and creating a ruckus.

You are a bright and shining person, Tobin, and I’m so happy to be in your life. May all your implausible wishes come true.

Love,

Mom