Gender Roles

The experience of having a boy and a girl is a necessary rite of passage... 

I LOVE raising a boy and LOVE raising a girl!

1. Learning to be a "Man"

My son has always been a very independent child. And I relish in any chance that I have to help him not struggle to do something (like wear pants as his shirt), but unfortunately today his independence won out. He had decided he was not going to ride in the stroller; he could walk just fine. "Fine Mom, Self- Fine!" 

Alrighty, we only had half a block left on our walk which took so long that both the girls fell asleep in that short distance. Turns out rush hour traffic is never a good time to venture outside the home with a boy even if you are not crossing the street. 

Demitri loved watching all the cars and could not walk until each string of cars had passed. He would watch and get all excited when he would see a truck. "Hi, Big Truck!" And he would wave real big. Not very many trucks waved back, but all the soccer moms in the mini vans waved with big smiles clearly thinking my son was the sweet friendly type.... My son EVERY SINGLE TIME snubbed them; he was not waving at mini vans or cars only trucks. He seriously would look at them like why in the world are you waving at me.

Then he found a stick which he proceed to have some sort of inner desire to point it aggressively at each car. I wish I knew what was going through his mind! 

2. Learning about Women's Role

Thanks to Daniel the Tiger, television series my daughter has been wanting another baby since Paisley was like a month old. She is constantly nursing her stuffed animals and has even set up an area that is the doctors, so that she can go give birth to the animals. I have tried not to get too involved because I know where that leads. 

But alas in the vehicle the conversation started...

Daph- "Mom, how do the babies get OUT of your tummy?"

       I repeated the question so that she could affirm that was what she was asking. I really try to answer her questions, but not give more than what she is asking. This was also my chance to breathe and decide she was finally old enough to know. 

       We began talking about how they exit "naturally" or on occasion the doctor has to cut the tummy open and get the babies out. C-sections are much easier to talk about... I made reference to her twin cousins who had become tangled and had to be removed by C-section. 

Daph- "So, [A] and [B] twins were fixed because they cut their hair?"

        -wait no... where did I lose her? 

"Oh, so they were not Rapunzel; they just were stuck! Does that makes since Daph?"

Daph- "Yeah, but now I want to know how babies get IN the tummy."

         (You give a mouse a cookie :D)

          Okay so don't worry some answers were meant to be at least stalled... 

"Well a mom and dad have to first decide that their family is ready to grow."

Daph- "So have you decided yet?!"