It was a really great weekend. The boys had fun, had their fill of juiceboxes, saw fireworks for the first time at my Granddad's house, played and played and played with Russy, and were completely exhausted by Sunday afternoon. So all in all, a wonderful visit!
So what's the "sigh" about?
While we were there, my mother playfully chided us for having Clair always looking so "unisex." She's usually in very girly clothes, so she was somewhat talking about our (unpopular) decision to leave her earring-less, and also she meant Clair's hair, which I tend to leave loose, like a little curly 'fro. I like barrettes and hair things on girls, but she's not yet 5 months old. I figured she doesn't need them everyday, or even most of the time!
Anyway, Mom took it upon herself to style Clair's hair. And it really does look super cute:
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| If you look closely, you can see Matthew sleeping on Clair's activity mat in the background. Hiiii, Matty-Matt! |
Lester hates all the barrettes. He thinks she looks too done-up, and that my family is in an inexplicable hurry to adorn his daughter, growing her up much faster than she needs to. He thinks she has plenty of time to be gussied up and that she should just look like a baby.
I think she is adorable all the time, with and without adornment. So I'm torn.
Then, yesterday, my neighbor told me he thinks Clair looks "just like Lester." Really??? This was just after a friend of his took a look at Clair in her bouncy chair, wearing a blue onesie with white-and-yellow flowers on it, and asked, "How old is Little Man over there?"
Little Man??
Looks like Lester??
Unisex?
I swear, I swear, I swear I don't want to be one of those silly parents who puts huge bows on her kid's head and dresses her in flouncy tutus and pink everything. But I had no idea when I was carrying her how much it would bother me that people don't think she looks like a girl all on her very own.
Why do I feel the need to decorate my daughter??? I'm fighting it, people. I really am.
But I have to admit, it's harder than I thought.
7 comments:
Based on my experience if your child in not in pink AND have bows on her head people just assume it's a boy. Both of my girls had earrings since they were three months old and even after the piercing people would compliment me on my cute little boys or tell me how much he looks just like his dad. So trust me the earrings don't always help and sometimes pink doesn't get the job done either.
So just be glad Lester is a good looking man, take it as an intented compliment from a not so observant person and move on. Besides who in their right mind could really look at that cutie and see anything other than an adorable baby girl.
If it makes you feel any better, a volunteer at the hospital repeatedly referred to Samantha as "him" despite being corrected several times, AND despite the fact that she was wearing a pink outfit and her legs were covered with a pink blanket. Given that I think that most babies look like cute little old men at birth, I wasn't offended.
That said, I think your cutie has outgrown any little old man remnants. (At the same time, I just scrolled back to look at her and she does rock the barrettes and skirt - so cute!!). But I'm with Candace - just chalk it up to a not-so-observant person, and take it as a compliment given that Lester is a good looking guy!
You have to handsome little boys and this is your one and only opportunity to ruffle it up a bit. Hopefully Lester will come to understand.
I had one of my boys in a dark brown sleeper and the other one in a blue sleeper and got told twice in one day "What cute twin girls"
Some people just can't tell...
OK, but Janna, honestly, your boys are the most beautiful boys I have ever seen. So I can't really blame people who are confused. LOL.
I remember one day way back when my little bald newborn was dressed in a pink onesie and the Target cashier gushed: "Oooooh HE's adorable!"
So yeah, people are dumb.
But, and I know you don't really expect me to say this, I feel you on the girly girl pressure. This, from me, who once refused to dress her baby in pink, who banished all bows and feared if I painted her room lavender, she'd somehow succumb to society's sexist social norms.
Yeah, so I got over myself, lol. And honestly, there's SO much cute stuff out there, it's hard to resist. Some days Naomi is wearing so much pink she looks like she's been hosed down with Pepto Bismol! I still don't stress about the hair stuff -- umm, clearly, judging from her mess of a head all the time. But that's mostly laziness on my part. Anyhow... this is my long way of saying, don't worry! Doll her up, or don't. Everyone else will just have to deal with it. And you now they all agree: she is absolutely precious no matter what she's wearing.
So, I'll just come clean. I was a bald baby. A bald toddler. Apparently I didn't really grow a ton of hair til I was about 4. My mother would put me in the stroller and everywhere we went in Brooklyn (where we lived at the time) everyone would comment on what a "cute little boy" my mom had. Finally my mom decided she had had enough and took all of my hair (a tiny little blonde tuff) and tied in in a pink bow that stood straight up on top of my head. I looked like a little boy with a pink bow. I still didn't look girly. After a while she gave up, and now we all look back on it and laugh that everyone thought I was a little boy. Because now I obviously have a full head of long hair and I don't think I look anything like a boy. But the pictures of me with my little bow sure are funny. I'm with Lester. Clair will grow into herself, and her femininity. No need to rush it. -Aurora
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