Thinker Linkers are one of the big things on our holiday radar this year. We took H to Maker Faire New York last month, and these full-size wooden building sets were out for kids to play with. She immediately took to them and dove right in with the older kids, picking up planks and trying to get in on the innovation. She was so enthusiastic that some of the older kids started an alliance, with a boy taking charge and warning the other kids not to let H near the structures they were building (she does have a penchant for destruction, but she just wanted to play).

These toys also brought out her fierce warrior side, too. An older girl, maybe 3 or so, took a wooden plank right out of H’s hands. H didn’t cry, but she did follow the little girl back to where she was playing and yell at her. H stood in her little angry stance and yelled, “BABABABABABA!!” at the girl, and then she just picked up one of the planks from the girl’s pile and came back to her own little play spot. We’d never seen anything like it; we didn’t even know babies could stick up for themselves at that age. But H was having none of it from this girl.

We’re probably getting her a set for Christmas.