Boys and Girls

Perhaps you have heard about the couple who is not revealing the gender of their baby so that he or she would not be swayed by gender roles. Check it out here!
I have two little ones, one of each gender. Although we have many "boys' toys" in our home since our boy has been around longer, we have always had a kitchen set, stuffed animals, and even a few baby dolls for him to play with. Our girl is going on a year and a half and has a few "girly toys" to play with and many more on the way this holiday. Point being both kids intermingle with each others' gender specific toys. By 9 months Cecily was zooming cars and Cole at the same time was bopping around the house with a dolly he named Super Baby.
Toys aside though I can clearly see the difference between a boy and a girl, this week's example~

Setting the scene: Cole in the back seat of the car finishing wiping his hands down with a baby wipe.
Cole: Mom can you guess what I made out of my wipe?
Me: Is it an animal?
Cole: No
Me: Guessing and Guessing cloud, hat etc...
Cole: Here is a clue, it is a weapon.
Me: A gun?
Cole: yes, but what kind??
Me: Rifle.
Cole: Mom it's a hand gun, can't you tell.
Great I think!

Setting the scene: Take the kids to the mall to quickly grab something and stop in the Boscovs' shoe department in a frantic attempt to find perhaps a pair of fuzzy Crocs that Cecily may actually wear.
Hooray we find the Crocs and pull them down for her to try on, say a quick prayer that once I take off the shoes that she is wearing now that there is a chance she will put them back on. Carrying her screaming barefoot to the clear other side of the mall with a half awake four year old by my side was not something I wanted to do, but was a distinct reality.

I find a size close enough and since the price was not right, I thought I would try them and order them online.
Me: Cecily let's try these on for mommy and see how nice and snuggly they are.
Cecily: No!
Me: Just one Cecily:
Cecily: No , dis dis handing me a pink pair of ballet Crocs.
Me: those are not your size, let's try these on for mommy.
Cecily: No, Dis, dis!
Me: Sure you can try them, but we are not getting those.
Cecily tries them on shining and flopping about in her pink two sizes too big Croc ballet shoes that there is not a chance in Hell that I am buying.

We never tried on the fuzzy Crocs, but I did get the pink shoes off her and made it out of the store without any meltdowns.

My children don't follow all gender stereotypes, but even when trying not to feed into it sometimes boys will be boys and girls will be girls!