Kids say the funniest things. Today I’m sharing questions to ask your 10 year old on her birthday. We asked our ten year old Ailey 30 questions about her favorite things and growing up.
Happy TEN YEARS of Ailey!
Let me tell you… it’s a strange feeling to accidentally click on a post describing your new four-year-old’s favorite things when she JUST TURNED TEN. Everyone tells you it feels like your children get a year older every time you blink—and I have to agree. Somehow, six years have passed since I wrote that post. How did we get here so quickly?
Ailey is truly one of a kind (like her name!). She leaves a lasting impression on anyone and everyone who meets her. From her unmistakable gravelly voice to her once-super-curly-now-beach-wavy hair, there are so many little things that make Ailey Ailey. She is insanely creative and artistic, incredibly nurturing, wonderfully whimsical, and always thinking about the people around her. She can turn just about anything into an art project, write and illustrate an entire book, choreograph a dance, or spend hours playing school—and somehow there is always another idea waiting in her brain when she’s finished.
One of my favorite things about watching Ailey grow is seeing how much of the little girl she has always been is still there, just in a bigger ten-year-old version. She is still creating, imagining, dancing, taking care of others, and making us laugh. But she’s also becoming more confident in who she is, what she likes, what she doesn’t like, and what makes her her.
So, in keeping with our birthday tradition, here is our annual snapshot of Ailey—this time at TEN YEARS OLD.
Questions to Ask Your 10 Year Old
- What is your favorite color? Purple
- What is your favorite toy? My Bitty Baby doll Olivia
- What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Kraft orange Mac and Cheese
- What is your favorite television show? Fuller House or The Loud House
- What is your favorite outfit? brown polka dot dress from Mango for Italy and red floral romper from J.Crew that doesn’t fit anymore
- What is your favorite snack? Birthday Cake Drizzlelicious
- What is your favorite animal? Puppy
- What is your favorite game? Charades
- What is your favorite song? “Play it My Way” from Camp Rock 3
- Who is your best friend and why? Sof because I have known her since preschool and she is nice to me.
- What is your favorite sport? Dance
- What is your favorite book? I’m still reading “The Amazing Generation” so that.
- What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike
- What is your favorite drink? Strawberry Acai Refresher from Starbucks
- What is your favorite dinner? the Burrata Pizza from Christos
15 More Questions for your Ten Year Old
- What do you know how to do that you can teach others? tap dance
- What is your favorite holiday? my birthday
- What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Charlie (stuffed dog)
- What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? plain bagel with veggie cream cheese
- If you could have a new name what would it be? I like my name.
- What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you? I don’t know… when the toilet overflowed at Piper’s house?
- What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher
- What is your dream vacation? Disney World
- What do you love about your sisters? Arbor when she isn’t mad at me will play with me and Annabelle likes to hang out with me.
- If you had one super power what would it be? To teleport.
- What’s the best thing about being you? I’m very smart.
- How do you feel about turning 10? I feel good because I’m older.
- What’s the best part about growing up? I can do more things.
- What’s the hardest part about growing up? I wish I was young again.
- What is one of your best memories from when you were little? When Barb was born.
Want to Know More about Ailey?
Height: we think 4’10
Weight: maybe 70lbs
Clothing Size: 10
Shoe Size: 4
Teeth Missing: 11 (including a molar)
Favorite Foods: Noni’s pancakes, fettuccine alfredo, strawberries, pretzels with ranch, mozzarella sticks with garlic salt, bagels with veggie cream cheese, pink lemonade, fresh burrata pizza from Christo’s, Greco salad, chocolate chip or coffee cake muffins from Neils, chicken and mixed veggies (Chinese Food), soft pretzels with beer cheese, hard pretzels dipped in ranch, Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme without sour cream, Uncrustables (only grape)
Foods She Doesn’t Like: raw tomatoes, crab, hard boiled eggs (“they stink so bad”), tuna fish (“Daddy eats a lot”), my Greek meatballs, seaweed (AB’s favorite), peanut butter and jelly (unless it’s an Uncrustable)
Ailey has always been a pretty adventurous eater—or at least that’s what I thought for a very long time. It turns out she is also the kind of kid who will eat something she doesn’t particularly like because she doesn’t want to hurt the feelings of whoever made it. So for years, I genuinely thought she loved almost everything I put in front of her!
Once I realized what she was doing, I started encouraging her to be more confident about her likes and dislikes. She is allowed to politely say she doesn’t like something without worrying about hurting anyone’s feelings. And now, apparently, she feels confident enough to publicly declare that she does not like my Greek meatballs.
Favorite Things to Do at 10 Years Old
Write and illustrate stories, clay modeling, bedazzle beauty products, watch and do how-to-draw videos, squish all the squishies, read (depends on what else is going on), play school, swim – she has no aversion to cold water, go shopping, style outfits, hang out or Facetime with her best dance friends, play make-believe with her sisters, choreograph dances, make actual books (with her own writing/illustrations), use household items to create art, play with her stuffed puppies,
What My 10 Year Old Loves: dance (all styles), taking technique classes, going out to eat at a restaurant, family dinner, family movie night, family game night (notice the trend here?), her two stuffed animal dogs, watching tv (when she isn’t supposed to), helping others, playing with little kids, most animals,
What My 10 Year Old Does NOT Like: cleaning her bedroom, not being able to watch t.v., being in the school bathroom when the fire alarm goes off., when plans change
Ailey also appreciates the finer things in life—and she definitely gets that from me. She can appreciate a well-made handbag (Longchamp), a good pair of shoes (Birkenstocks), pretty jewelry (Kendra Scott), and even nice hair products (she LOVES her Dae). She actually cried when she opened her first Lululemon set for Christmas.
But what I love is that her appreciation for nice things doesn’t come with an expectation that she should always have them. She understands that things cost money, is beyond grateful for what she owns, and is perfectly happy searching for an inexpensive alternative to something designer she loves. She just has an eye for things she thinks are beautiful and well-made—and I have absolutely no idea where she got that from…
More About Ailey at 10
Something I have noticed about Ailey this year is that she is absolutely buzzing with life. I don’t know if this is new or if I somehow never noticed it before, but she has so much energy. She sings while she cleans, dances while she gets ready for school, and runs from room to room instead of walking. But she can also be incredibly quiet and calm, sometimes going so far inside of herself that I have to ask what is on her mind.
Ailey still feels everything deeply—passionately, if we’re being honest. When she is happy, she is HAPPY. When she is sad, she is SAD. And when she is mad… well, you don’t want to find out. We’ve been working with her for years on how to navigate her big emotions, and she has come so far. She is great at talking through how she feels, although usually after the moment has passed. There is a lot of breath work, journaling, squeezing Needohs, and taking time to reset.
She is still sensitive, intuitive, empathetic, and eager to please. Ailey puts a lot of pressure on herself to do the right thing, especially at school and dance. Her teachers love her spirit, creativity, hard work, and willingness to help others. She is the kid who doesn’t ask if the teacher needs help putting away the Chromebooks—she just starts doing it because she notices it needs to be done. At home, however, she lets all of that control go. My once neat and tidy child will start a bedazzling project in one room, wander off to make something to eat, leave that mess behind, and then either return to her original project or start something completely new.
One of my favorite things about Ailey is how naturally she connects with little kids. Whether it’s at the dance studio or with our friends’ babies, she is incredibly nurturing and seems to understand them on another level. Her empathy is one of the things I hope she never loses.
Another change I’ve loved seeing this year is Ailey becoming more willing to try new things. This is the girl who has always been cautious and likes to know exactly what she’s getting herself into—and suddenly she’s snowboarding (like, who is this girl?!), kneeboarding, rafting, playing tennis, and determined to learn how to do an aerial. I love watching her push herself outside of her comfort zone, especially because I know it doesn’t always come naturally to her. She may still be my cautious Ailey, but she’s learning that sometimes the best things happen when you just give it a try.
Ailey + Her People
Ailey and Daddy have always had such a fun relationship. They roughhouse and play like siblings—and sometimes argue like them too—but she has so much love and respect for her Dad. She is still always willing to give him a hug, and one of my favorite photos from the first day of school this year is Brandon carrying his ten-year-old daughter like she’s still a toddler. I love watching the two of them together and seeing the ways their relationship continues to grow as she gets older.
Annabelle and Ailey are best friends, whether they’ll admit it or not. They look for each other and genuinely want to be together. Sometimes they’ll announce they’re “going to bed early,” only to lie side by side in their beds talking long after they’re supposed to be asleep. They fight like cats and dogs, can sell each other out in a heartbeat, and are also fiercely protective of one another. I especially love that despite getting older, they can still disappear together and play imaginatively like they’re little kids again.
With Arbor, Ailey is constantly trying to figure out whether she wants to be her best buddy or her big sister. She wants to be silly and goofy with her, but she also wants to take care of her—and occasionally mother (or nag) her. Of course, Arbor sometimes decides she should be the one in charge of Ailey, and you can imagine how well that goes. They bicker with the best of them, but underneath all of it, Ailey takes care of her little sister in so many ways.
And then there is Ailey and me. We’ve had a harder year together. I know that part of it is because I am her safe place—she knows I love her unconditionally, so I am often the person who gets her biggest and most difficult emotions. And sometimes I don’t handle those moments as patiently as I wish I did. We are so much alike, and I know how badly she wants to impress me and make me proud. I’m learning that sometimes she needs less from me—not another question, correction, or solution, but more patience, more space, and a chance to come back to me when she’s ready. I hope as she grows up she always knows that even on our hardest days, there is nowhere she could go and nothing she could feel that would ever change how much I love her.
Dance + Friends at 10
Some of Ailey’s closest friendships are with her dance friends (along with her cousin-bestie and best friend at school). She has a wonderful company group, but within it there are six girls who have really clicked. I feel like they truly started bonding at Nationals in the summer of 2023, and their friendship has been growing and blossoming ever since. They’re different ages, in different grades and at different schools, but they love each other like cousins—and sometimes fight like them, too. The best part is that their moms have become some of my best friends as well.
They’ve already had some incredible adventures together, especially this past year. The Tate McRae concert in Boston and Piper’s 10th birthday in New York City definitely stand out.
As a dancer, Ailey is entering a whole new era. Two years ago she shocked everyone with hip hop, this past year she really came into her own as a tap dancer, and over the summer she trained outside of the studio in technique classes and began blossoming as a lyrical dancer. She is dedicated, hardworking, and becoming such a well-rounded dancer—but what I love most is how much more confident she has become.
I know that confidence will be tested as she gets older. She has already started noticing dancers with different strengths and skills and comparing herself to them sometimes. I just hope she always remembers that someone else’s talent doesn’t take anything away from her own. There is so much that makes Ailey Ailey, both on and off the stage.
And just like that, our Ailey is ten.
There is something about double digits that feels different. Ten still feels so little in so many ways—she still sleeps with Charlie, plays with her Bitty Baby, creates entire imaginary worlds, and wants to be wherever her family is. But then I catch glimpses of the girl she is becoming, and I realize just how quickly all of this is happening.
I wish I could bottle up Ailey at ten: the gravelly voice, the beach-wavy hair, the big feelings, the constant creating, the dancing through the house, the trail of unfinished projects, and the way she cares so deeply about everyone around her.
Ailey, I hope you always know how special it is to be exactly who you are. Keep feeling things deeply. Keep making things just because an idea popped into your head. Keep dancing, singing, helping, imagining, and caring about people the way you do.
And maybe don’t grow up quite so quickly, okay?
Happy TEN years to our one-of-a-kind Ailey girl. We love you more than you will ever know.
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