Cocopuffsstillinside

Laurence, Quentin, Windsor, Pepper and Grace 🥰

This has to be the best series you have never heard of!

I cannot begin to explain how much I adore this series! I started it 10 days ago and am already on book 8!

Best way i can decribe it is VERY grown up Solangelo from Percy Jackson, but they are also entirely their own characters.

I can't do it justice honestly! But if you like gods, myths and legends, as well as romance, queer couples, drama and trauma... you NEED to read this!

https://ravenswordpress.com/books/inheritance

So this is my 6 year old, Lily.

For her birthday (which was several months ago, but I wasn't on tumblr much at that point, so I didn't share, but now I feel compelled to share her awesomeness) she asked for two things - a Nico di Angelo teddy and a stygian sword.

Of course, these are not things one can just buy off the shelf, so once again, a very nerdy, creative, and determined mama set to work.

Making him was... stressful and tiring but so worth it, despite that fact, this teddy has become the bane of my existence. He has to go EVERYWHERE with her. These pictures were taken on the way back from our trip to London to see the #PercyJacksonMusical. During which she made him give running commentary on what was funny, inaccuracies, and general opinions. If she can't find him at bedtime, the house bares a striking resemblance to the underworld riots. She has had him for 4 month and he already looks like the toy completed the fictional quests himself.

Then there is the sword.

My sibling and I started with a basic foam sword and turned it into the one in the video. Safe to say she was a very happy girl. The notches were placed purely cause it looked too boring without them, but my daughter came up with a theory on how they happened:

"He was fighting a monster and hit a rock. Then he thought it looked cool, so he did it again." - Lily, the six-year-old PJO fanatic.

For world book day, she insisted on going as Nico. When I said she couldn't take her sword, she pouted and put it down. Them immediately picked up her bow and arrow and said, "Fine, I'll go as Bianca." Once I explained it was no weapons at all, she switched back to Nico.

I would like to note that no one in her class knew who she was (cause what six year old would? Other than mine...) yet it did not discourage her and she even got up in front of the class and told them all about Nico and the monsters he fights and his boyfriend Will who can "sing and glow and heal like Rapunzel". Her teacher said she had them all hooked.

A week later, I had a Dad come up to me at collection and thank me for letting her go as Nico, cause now his son was wrapped in the show and they had started reading the books as his bedtime story. He had been trying to get his son more involved with reading, but he just didn't have any interest in the younger kids' books, apparently. As of 2 months later, (He is giving me updates in the playground every time they start a new book) they are now on BotL and his little boy has never been so enthusiastic about reading or bedtime before, and the dad has started to get a little invested in the series as well.

She has also come to me with very serious questions, such as: "If Nico is the son of Hades, can he eat the underworld food?" I always happily prod and poke at the questions, trying to help her form her own conclusion. Which for this particular one was "No. He was born in the human world. He just eats the pomegranate seeds. He takes happy meals with him before he goes down." And honestly, I can't fault that logic.

Lily also seems to have a death wish of some kind as she regularly yells at thunder clouds telling Zues to "Stop wingeing!"

For her birthday, as you can probably tell or even guess, she wanted everything PJO themed but heavy on the Nico part. This involved way too much blue food, like these birthday breakfast pancakes...

There was blue lemonade that sparkled with mica powder. There were blue sweets, and if it came in a packet, it was only allowed to be a blue packet. All the presents wrapped in blue or black paper and skeleton decorations littered the place like pop-up Halloween store.

And finally her cake.

The inside was blue, of course (I still don't think my toilet has recovered from the copious amount of blue dye). The decorations are all made of chocolate, either solid or modelling. After blowing out the candles, she politely asked if she could have the trident. I smiled and pulled it free, telling her to be careful because there was a wooden stick in the centre. Taking it, she promptly raised it in the air and yelled, "THE SEA DOESN'T LIKE TO BE RESTRAINED!" Then hid behind the sofa giggling as she ate it. I asked why she was hiding, and stated very plainly, "Poisidon will be mad if he knows I'm eating his trident, so I have to do it secretly."

There really is no point to this post other than to state how amazing this girl is and how proud I am to call her my daughter!