One of the benefits of writing this blog is occasionally gaining little tidbits of inspiration from fellow Magpie moms as to the books, toys, and activities that might appeal to my children. I thought we could engage in a mindshare today: what are your kids loving right now, at their ages? (This might be good fodder for holiday gifts.) As for mine:

Emory, age 8!

When I think of my girl, I mainly think of her as a reader. She is never without a book and often reads multiple at once, which impresses me — I only came into “reading simultaneous books at once” as an adult. I asked her how she chooses between them, and she says, “just based on my mood.” A woman who knows herself and takes her own joy seriously! I would say we’re pretty disciplined (metered?) in our home around a lot of things, but I am intentionally lax and soft about anything related to reading. We’ve always let them stay up late to read, encouraged them to soothe themselves back to sleep with a book or audiobook when upset by nightmares, brought them to bookstores and libraries so that they can load up their arms, made audiobooks widely available to them (they will play them at the breakfast table, in their rooms as they’re falling asleep, etc), ordered them the next book in a series if we see they’re into something, permitted them to read whatever they like. This last one was tricky when she was into the graphic novel / Dogman era (which, interestingly, she has largely outgrown at this point), and I worried about the maturity of the themes in some and the cruel humor in others. But I came to feel it was more important that she should have a sense of freedom and autonomy in her readership, a space to learn her own tastes, and this has panned out well. (On a practical level, I also thought — there is probably no way to keep her from reading what she likes; kids will seek it out! — and tried my best to read bits of what she was reading in tandem, having conversations about the unpleasant bits.) I see a lot of my parents in this tack. When I was growing up, my parents treated books like a utility; it was something we were entitled to at all times and in enormous supply. My mother took us weekly to the library, and I can still remember my Dad inviting me to purchase thick stacks of books from Barnes and Noble — “absolutely, you can have these.” They were tremendous models of readership themselves; even in the carpool line, my mother would read a page or two while idling. Anyway, Emory is a book girl, often curled up in her corner chair by the fireplace with her blanket, lost in a book.

AMERICAN GIRL BAKING COOKBOOK // HARRY POTTER // SWEATSHIRT // DISTRESSED JEANS // WOOM HELMET // KLUTZ LOOM ANIMALS // BEANIE BOO // JOURNAL // UGGS // SOCCER BALL // ADIDAS SNEAKERS // PIP POST POST EARRINGS

+She is currently reading Harry Potter and The Hotel Between. I am reading HP alongside her — it’s my first time, too! — and when I tuck her into bed, she likes me to read her Shel Silverstein poems. They are perfectly calibrated to her age — silly and clever, with lots of wordplay and “justice” themes, and the illustrations are fantastic. Funnily enough, she found the poetry herself; I have old books that belonged to me in her closet, and she came across The Light in the Attic with its inscription from my uncle: “To Jennifer, a special and wonderful girl.” I’m so charmed by this cross-generational accordion around poetry! I also wouldn’t have thought to read her poetry, but she elected it all on her own. She’ll also binge read graphic novels when in the right mood, and has read and re-read the Roald Dahl books countless times. We enjoyed reading The Borrowers together over the summer.

+Into any and all handicrafts — rainbow looms, Klutz crochet, fortune tellers, friendship bracelets, Klutz mini erasers. Klutz is such a great brand; their kits are my gifting go-tos at the moment.

+Obsessed with illustrating and journaling. She and my son love using how-to-draw videos and books; they could spend hours working on this. She keeps a journal that I fastidiously avoid looking at; it’s her safe place. I keep a little cache of journals and notebooks in my gift closet, and she’ll come to me as soon as she’s finished one to trade up. Sometimes these are pretty keepsakes, and sometimes simple.

+Toys: she’s more likely to be found reading, drawing, making something with her hands, but we do sometimes overhear her playing with her Playmobile sets, American Girl dolls, and — very occasionally — Barbies. She’s still big into stuffed animals – Squishmallows, Beanie Boos!

+TV wise, she loves the kids baking show programs; this American Girl cookbook changed something in her. She asks to bake something almost every weekend, and I think a lot of the enthusiasm stems from the baking shows. She recently watched and loved “Mighty Ducks.”

+Sports: swimming, occasional tennis, soccer. She’s currently playing soccer in a rec league and had a hat trick (!) last week that may well be one of her greatest sources of pride. She loves to ride her Woom bike.

+Music: “Life of a Showgirl,” Benson Boone, Olivia Rodrigo, relaxing Disney piano (she and my son listen to this at bedtime – it’s charming!)

+Clothes: oversized hoodies/sweatshirts, jeans, flared leggings, Uggs, Pip Pop Post earrings. I have found over time the best brands for her are Zara and Mango — they have slightly elevated takes on the trends. Mango in particular does a lot of “mini” versions of what I would wear, which is very much her speed.

+Food: I’m omitting the usual kid obsession with all sweet treats. Emory loves yogurt and yogurt parfaits, pears and apples, and will try anything we give her — a huge accomplishment after years of battles of the wills at dinner time.

Hill, age 6!

The essence of Hill at six: refuses to wear anything but boxers around the house (!), will wake up early to work on the 1000 piece puzzle downstairs, wants to throw the football all the livelong day. He’s also our social butterfly; he’ll look out the window “to see if anyone’s out there” and sprint downstairs to chat with neighbors if they are. He and my daughter have a profoundly special relationship with our next door neighbors (who have one high school aged daughter); they have taken such loving interest in our children’s lives, and it makes me farklempt just to think of it. My children pass many hours of the week chatting with our neighbors in the cul de sac, on their front porch, while walking with the neighbors’ dog. When my son received a soccer trophy last weekend, he sat outside and waited for them to come out so he could show it off!

COMMANDERS SWEATSHIRT // CAT’S CRADLE KLUTZ BOOK // DEADLIEST SNAKE BOOK // 1000 PC PUZZLE // FRANKLIN FOOTBALL // CADETS CARDIO SHORTS // CECIL AND LOU MONOGRAM HAT // VANS SNEAKERS // ZARA SWEATSUIT // PAPER AIRPLANE KIT // KINGDOMINO GAME // LEGO CREATOR SET

+Reading: The Who Would Win and Deadliest Creature series, DogMan (ugh), but he’ll still ask for picture books at bedtime, and we recently read and re-read Hello Lighthouse at the suggestion of several Magpie readers on the heels of my “lighthouse keeper” post. We were both entranced by the illustration, by the themes of passing time, isolation, connectedness, obsoleteness. Hill had so many unexpected questions while reading this: Why are lighthouses circular? Why can’t they be square? Do glass bottles float in the water? Does ice cover the entire ocean? He brings such a scientific mind to these texts, and I love to see what a poetic book like this elicits in him. We have also been making our way through a few chapter books: The Mouse and the Motorcycle, The Phantom Tollbooth. A teacher recently recommended these graphic novels as an alt to Dogman and I happily, readily ordered!

+Sports: football, football, football. Rarely without a football in his hands; begs his dad and sister to “throw the ball” about 1000 times a day. I recently bought him a Washington Commanders sweatshirt and I don’t think he’s taken it off unless forced to for school (he wears a uniform). He also plays little league baseball, CYO soccer, and enjoys tennis (when we remember to enroll him in the seasonal clinics).

+Obsessed with cat’s cradle, puzzles (1000-piece!), paper airplanes, checkers, any game that involves logic or math (King Domino! — this was a Magpie reader rec and has been such a big hit in our house), Uno.

+Was very into birding this summer — he’d eat his breakfast outside with Merlin running on his iPad, and report on the birds he’d heard. By the end of summer, he was pretty good at identifying most of the birds common to our yard by ear.

+Toys: Lego guy; he especially likes the “Creator” sets where you can build three different creations with one set of Legos. He’ll power through them, doing one, taking it apart; doing the second, taking it apart; etc. We also keep Magna-tiles and Lincoln Logs out in our family room area and he still plays with those regularly, even all these years later. He’s a builder!

+Music: Soundtrack to “Trolls Band Together.” I can’t tell you how many hundreds of times we’ve listened to this. Landon is more of a music stickler — he’ll put on what he likes in the car — but I let my kids DJ, as I figure it’s one small space I can say “yes” to when I feel like I’m more often a font of “no.” (Sigh.) Anyhow, we’ve listened to this so much, I know the tracks he likes me to skip and will anticipate them, and we sing several of the songs word for word together. He also loves K-Pop Demon Hunters and the song “Fox Hunt” by Sierra Ferrell. At night: relaxing Disney piano. (I think the playlist on Apple is called “Disney Dreams.”)

+TV: “You Vs. Wild,” any live-action nature shows, “Sonic,” “Trolls Band Together.”

+Loves to play video games — Wii sports, Mario, etc — but we severely limit this. I would say he has access to video games 1-2x a month, whereas we give them iPad time most days.

+Clothes: Washington Commanders sweatshirt, Cadets mesh or cardio shorts, performance polos (<<specifically this one with the sports motif), Adidas slides, Bombas socks, Vans Knu sneakers in red and black.

+Food: I’m omitting the usual kid obsession with all sweet treats. Hill loves cottage cheese, almost any slicing cheese, salami, pickles, and Cheetohs. He can be really picky at dinner time; we still have to cajole and coax him into eating new foods. I know a few of you have said your kids just aren’t big dinner eaters, and this seems to be his vibe, although I suspect this is because dinner is where he encounters the most new cuisine and advanced flavors.

OK, share — what are your kids into?! What’s on their radar? Book titles, games, tv shows! Spill the good stuff!

P.S. Recent clothing finds for kids.

P.P.S. Gentle packing lists in motherhood.

P.P.P.S. The almost invisible milestones in motherhood.

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