things I have tried with my kid recently

She likes sorting Blokus pieces back into the trays by color, and if I point out that one is in the wrong place, will scrutinize the trays until she finds it and moves it. She had no interest in sorting (pre-selected) Scrabble tiles into 'E's, 'O's, and 'S's, but enjoyed putting the tiles one by one into the cups of an egg carton, and did occasionally announce when she found an O. She initially played along with putting pennies and nickels into the egg carton, but then very sensibly suggested that moneys should put in wallet (an old wallet of mine) and kept busy for awhile shoving coins into various pockets and dumping them out again. (I swear I was watching her closely, this being her first encounter with the choking hazard of coins, but we still somehow lost a nickel and a penny.) I was unable to convince her that a horsey ride would be fun to try. (Maybe I didn't have her sitting right? Perhaps I'll try again with someone else to help her get balanced.)

We have slowed down on Science (better weather has meant more leaving the house, for one thing) but I'm sure I'll still pull out the occasional experiment when An Activity is called for.

recs: Captain Jack Harkness/everybody and everything

If I was going to hook up with any one fictional character, I'd probably go for Captain Jack Harkness. The fanon version, where he's got a superhuman ability to figure out what his partner will like, and what *he* wants is just to see them have a good time. He's like the fandom Universal Remote: he can turn on anything! And thus he is perfect for crossovers.

Need to Know is the new story prompting this set of recs - it's a crossover with ST:TOS, and it made me grin so hard my face hurt. 10500 words and required reading if you read slash and know what a Horta is.

Hi, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. Jack/Chewbacca. No, wait, come back here. It totally works.

This Is How The Universe Ends. Jack/Discworld Death, sort of. Mostly they play games.

Signals That Sound In The Dark. Jack/Aral Vorkosigan. I thought I had recced this when I did the big Vorkosigan recs post, but maybe not. This is Jack doing his figure-out-exactly-what-his-partner-needs thing, only not just in bed. Has one of my favorite fiction things in it, people who have actually read stories and paid attention to them.

Bluebird. This really doesn't fit the theme but I came across it looking for something else and remembered reading it ages ago and couldn't resist. 5400 words, Jack/Ianto and Ianto/... look, I don't want to spoil it for you. Just be warned that this is dark and creepy and unforgettable.

Stupid Human Tricks. Scroll down for it. Not actually a crossover, just has some nice bits of Jack/various aliens. Does work better if you know something about Doctor Who.

I really wanted to wrap up this set of recs with a link to a story I *swear* I've read, in which Jack has sex with the superintelligent shade of the color blue from Hitchhikers's Guide, but I can't find it. Someday I will find this story again.