Re: Backpack Child Carriers
 

I'll check it out. Thanks.

Re: Backpack Child Carriers
 

I see them used all of the time in the city. Great alternative to using the stroller, which I find annoying.

Re: Backpack Child Carriers
 

Ah. We just use double bagged brown paper bags from Trader Joe's. Or those things called arms. Or we make the little monsters crawl. It builds their immunity.

Re: Backpack Child Carriers
 

Re: Backpack Child Carriers
 

That reminds of a poster from long ago, the one whose baby pic Fugee had as a screen saver. I think it was Skek Daddy. Is that him? Whatever happened to that hack?

Re: General discussion - Mom and Dad Esq.
 

Crap. Wrong thread.

Re: Backpack Child Carriers
 

We've got an REI frame backpack handed down from a friend, which I most recently used to schlep Freya around the Hoyt Arboretum. The important thing is to try it on. We had a hard time finding a pack that would fit both of us (I have wide hips and my husband has wide shoulders), and it was lucky that the free one did. I also can't recommend highly enough the Ergo carrier, which can be worn front or back with equal comfort. For not having a frame, it does a pretty good job of transferring weight to your hips. The only drawbacks are that the kid can't really see over your shoulders, and there is no outward-facing option. But it's a valuable tool to have in your baby-wearing arsenal (We also have a pouch sling, a ring sling, and a baby bjorn. Each has its place.).

tm

Book recommendations
 

I would like to get my son some books for the Generic Winter Gift Giving Celebration. Preferably chapter books out of a series, so that we could build a collection over time. He is in 2nd grade, but reads very well (according to his teacher, about 1 1/2 yrs ahead). The Magic Treehouse books he has taken home from the school library are too easy. He can plow through one in an evening. We have the Harry Potter books, and he loves them, but an 800 pg book is probably too much for him to tackle on his own. Anyone have ideas for something somewhere in the middle?

Re: Book recommendations
 

Do kids still read stuff like the Hardy Boys? I loved the Bobsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, etc. when I was a kid, because there was always another book.

I also remember loving Encyclopedia Brown and the Ramona the Pest series for the same reason.

Note: I am old.

Re: Book recommendations
 

Yes. Gaplet the 9yo is going through the Hardy Boys stuff now and seems to like it.

ETA: I have not checked, but presume that he's not reading the actual ancient Hardy Boys manuscripts that you and I read back in the day, but instead more modern editions generated by an algorithm housed in a Google data center somewhere in Oregon.

Re: Book recommendations
 

I was a fan of The Great Brain series. And, as others have noted, Encyclopedia Brown is a fun series to read. Never read the Hardy Boys, believe it or not.

Re: Book recommendations
 

Second the question/request from the girl perspective; also 2nd grade and advanced reader. Major Harry Potter fanatic, and reads the books after I've read them to her (we're currently working through Order of the Phoenix). Like Paisley's kid, plows through Magic Treehouse and the like in an afternoon. Currently reading the Little House books, which we read together a couple of years ago. Any suggestions much appreciated.

Re: Book recommendations
 

How about Roald Dahl? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. James and the Giant Peach. The Twits.

Or The Phantom Tollbooth. Can't remember who wrote that gem, but it's delightful.

Re: Book recommendations
 

The Droon series engaged all of our kids at that age and would fit this bill.

Re: Book recommendations
 

All good choices. Boy or Girl involved?

If a girl, the royal diaries series engaged both of our girls, but not our boy. And has lots of good history in it.