Here's Max, watching Tom and Jerry for the first time and loving it. I got the biggest kick out of watching him, because I was remembering what a laugh riot I thought the show was when I was a kid.
It is really awesome seeing your kids enjoy stuff that you enjoyed as a kid. Like me back then, Max also adores spin art (we have the Crayola Color Twister), Play-Doh (purple only, of course), long baths, giggling, being pushed on the swing for ridiculously long periods of time and as much ice-cream as his belly can hold (although I liked vanilla and he is all chocolate, all the time). Like me back then, Sabrina is into dance class (I was ballet, she's hip-hop), tennis, reading, wearing boy clothes, writing stories, making jewelry from kits and eating anything and everything carbs. She just started loving the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary, my childhood fave.
I passed along my wanderlust gene to both kids, who love to go on planes and stay in hotel rooms. I also gave them the gene that makes you want to jump up and down like crazy on your bed when your mom asks you to go to sleep. I dunno, maybe that's ALL kids.
A few weeks ago, I was at Sabrina's gym and I saw a little girl gleefully do a cartwheel. I wished Max could experience the joys of doing cartwheels. And then I caught myself: I could never do a cartwheel as a kid. And it sure didn't stop me from having a great childhood.
What sort of things do your kids like that you also liked as a kid?