Sigh...

We spent this weekend at my Mom's house, to escape our barely-coolish house (in the middle of a heat wave) and let the boys jump around in the sprinklers with their cousins.

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:

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.