Dear Callum,

You’ve had a wild and adventurous summer. Last night, I was reading School Days According to Humphrey to you, and the students in the class were assigned to bring a summer box. That was a box full of things that represented what they did over the summer, and after we were done reading, I asked you what you would include in a summer box. You said a postcard from Niagara Falls, the ornament you made at the Corning Museum of Glass, the slime you made at camp in the park, and a playing card to represent all the poker you played at Mubby and Skitter Week.

This was your first time attending Mubby and Skitter Week. You planned to last year, but it ended up not working out because our air conditioning broke and your dad and I stayed there too. You were pretty annoyed about that, because you didn’t feel you could fully take advantage of grandparent (mostly grandmother) leniency with your dad and me present. This year, you were on board for the complete experience, and you definitely got it. Much of it occurred after your month birthday, so I’ll write more about that next month, but I know you had a great time. You are already excited to go again next summer. Rumor has it you improved your poker skills quite a bit, though you sometimes had to hide under the table when you knew you couldn’t maintain a poker face.

I’m a little nervous about sending you to school in the fall. It’s rapidly approaching, and you had only just begun your Humira treatment at the end of the last school year. It’s been helpful for easing your Crohn’s symptoms, but it’s also immunosuppressive on a systemic level. That means you’re more vulnerable to viral, bacterial, and fungal infections. Your older siblings have finally worn me down about not wearing masks at school, but on your doctor’s advice, you’re still going to. For the time being, you have a reasonable attitude about it. That may not last forever, but I’m glad that you don’t seem to hate it too much just now. It does mean we’re going to have to be more vigilant about protecting you from germs your siblings bring home.

Tobin’s always been the kid in the family most likely to catch a cold, which I attribute to his utter inability to keep his hands to himself. Since you share a room with him, that may mean that you get moved out of the bedroom temporarily if Tobin is sick. If he got something more serious, like Covid or influenza, he might get banished to the guest room so you could keep your room. He uses that room as an office anyway, so he’d probably be able to handle it, though he really does like being up on the same floor as everyone. Even though you two squabble, he really loves you and likes being your bunk bed buddy.

We already have our Florida Keys trip booked for the spring, and we’re staying at the same rental condo that we used last time. I’m sure you and Tobin will share a room again, since Artemis prefers the privacy of the small single room. You and Tobin had fun in the pirate ship room last time anyway, and you’re good roommates. As long as everyone stays healthy, we should be under control.

I’ve learned that immunosuppressed people such as you, including kids, are currently eligible to get an additional Covid booster two months or more after their previous shot. It seems like it might be useful for you to do that a couple of weeks before our trip. It’s hard to say whether that will still be an option seven months from now, with how fast everything changes on that front, but I hope so. What I would really like is for our whole family to get a bonus booster, but I’m not sure if that will fly. Maybe we can beg your doctors for a special prescription.

An important benefit of Humira is healing your intestines to the extent that they do a better job absorbing nutrition. Your height and weight had stalled out for a while, but you’ve made small but consistent gains at your last several appointments. That makes me happy to know. It’s a pretty dismal feeling as a parent to learn that the food I’ve been giving you hasn’t been doing its job to help you grow. You were also happy to learn that your GI doctor recommends red meat to help boost your hemoglobin. As a lover of ribeye steak, you gave a big thumbs-up to that advice. We’re (I’m) making casual plans for a big trip I hope to take in about three years, a European extravaganza. Your dad and I were talking about places in Italy we should go, and the first place I thought of was Florence, because of the enormous T-bone steaks for which they’re famous. I’m sure you’d love the pizza and pasta, too, but nothing makes you wash up for dinner faster than steak on the table.

Your current favorites: pancakes and waffles, not wearing a shirt, chicken wings, steak, the PBS show Word Girl (your dad is also excited about that, as it’s his favorite of the PBS lineup), dancing, doing elaborate fight choreography, building blanket forts in the bunk bed with Tobin, and being tender and cuddly. Even though I never get a good night’s sleep when I share a bed with you, I admit I don’t hate the idea of doing it more often. You’re a pretty sweet little pup.

Love,

Mom