Carter (left) and Layla (center) play with their mother, Jennie (right), on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on July 4, 2021. The family had traveled to D.C. to celebrate the Fourth of July. Back in May, they almost lost Carter to a severe case of Covid-19. “After all that,” said his great-grandmother Diane, “it just feels like freedom.”

By Kori Suzuki