Boys vs. Girls

There are certain things that Rose and Simon do which seem contrary to common gender stereotypes, but they both exude undeniable femininity/masculinity. To start off, here are the quirks: Simon loves using his sister's pink princess toothpaste, and still has a baby in his tummy (whose name has changed from "Santa Claus" to "Jasmine"). He can also be quite gentle with Rose's dolls. As for Rose, well, while the other girls are pretending to be princesses at our weekly playgroup, she's putting them in "jail" or pretending to be a "mean dog" (in her imaginative play, she seems more at ease assuming an animal identity than a human one, male or female).

Even though he's a little monkey, he's sensitive to baby's needs (in this case, a diaper)

Despite these quirky wanderings from what one would typically think of as "the feminine" or "the masculine," there are some obvious differences between Rose and Simon. I mean, Rose loves getting dressed up in pretty dresses for church (and repeatedly reminding everyone that she is "so pretty"), while Simon loves using sticks to "shoot" people (don't quite know where he picked that up). I guess these examples don't affirm gender any more than the aforementioned cases affirm gender confusion, but trust me--they're totally boy and girl. Rose seems to be more concerned with the intricacies of  interpersonal relations, while Simon is more concerned with "things"--making things hit each other, poking things, etc. He is constantly walking around making action sounds...it's something I didn't truly pay attention to until a short while ago, but if you listen to him pass, it's likely he's pursing his lips, making "fffting" flying sounds. I especially love it when he says in a gravelly little voice, "I dangerous." And just the other day he playfully hit Sevak and said, "you dying." What? Where does he get this from?

Simon splashed around in a bucket of water the whole time (yep, the weather's been that good), while Rose gingerly planted and water an acorn

I also love considering Rose and Simon's interpretations of boyhood and girlhood. Rose seems to think it all has something to do with the length of one's hair, although she pointed out a few exceptions. :) Of course color also has something to do with it (although I certainly don't forbid pink, I do find it unfortunate that almost the whole section of girls' toys is pretty much pink). The other day Simon got his hands on a Hello Kitty DVD and said, "This is Rose's favorite because it has pink." You're probably right, Simon.

One thing I'm grateful for is that Rose and Simon have each other to kind of balance things out, gender-wise. While I am so ridiculously fond of my two sisters, I think growing up in an all-girl household might have contributed to my adolescent anxiety around the opposite sex. I was boy crazy for sure, but I still had this underlying shyness and confusion because boys were so completely foreign to me. Kind of a weird combination. Like I said, though, I am so grateful that I had the childhood I did. And I'm grateful to observe life through the eyes of my own two precious children! Here are a few remaining pics of Simon, just because he's been such a hoot lately. I also wanted to quickly mention how adorable he is with the baby in my tummy. He always tells me that he loves my baby, and lately he's been very intrigued by the fact that the baby is "floating around" in there. He often asks me, "the baby floating in your tummy, Mommy?" And then he always follows it up with, "the baby naked, Mommy?" Yes, the naked baby is an endless source of amusement for this little guy.