Gender Bender

Sometimes you end up having a conversation with your 3 year old child that makes you give your head a 'where on earth did he come up with that idea, I am definitely going to need to have a conversation with daddy tonight' shake.

I was outside playing hockey with the wee man yesterday and we got onto the conversation about being able to play good hockey and being fast, you know, the average athletic conversations you tend to have with a youngster while partaking in an athletic activity.  When out of the blue, he comes out with 'I am the fastest runner in the world because I am a boy'.  What the.............

Okay, so I get the previous statements he has made, differentiating between the genders by comparing myself and his papa, boys eat meat, girls eat veggies, boys drink milk/beer girls drink water.  These make sense (sort of) because that is how it is in our household, not because we have discussed with him about these specific (and totally false, obviously) girl, boy differences.  It was funny, it was cute.

This, however, is just way off and not something I want him believing in.  As delicately as I could, I explained to him that people are good at different things such as running, playing hockey, reading etc.  because they practice a lot, not because of their gender.  Do you know what he said to me?

'No mom, it's just real, boys are faster than girls, for true mom, it is just real'.  Where in the hell did he possibly come up with this idea, and why was he not taking what I was explaining to him as truth?  And how did he come up with telling me that it is real?  What the fuck?

So my thoughts are that his dad said something like that in passing as a joke, or that he heard a random and (hopefully) joking conversation between people and took it as real.  Whatever the case, it a little bit breaks my heart to think that he thinks that boys are better then girls at ANY thing.

Is there any one out there in blogger land that has had a similar conversation with their little one?  Any thoughts on how I might persuade him against being sexist 3 year old?

One Step Ahead

Every so often when you have had enough days/weeks/months of just managing to 'get by' you notice that things have changed up a bit, overnight like, but not, because it was a gradual process really, you were just not paying attention.

All of the sudden your infant turns into a baby turns into an attempted toddler, pointing, talking (dat, as in whats dat), signing (milk, all done, water, light, more) and cruising the furniture like a champion.  And then you notice that he is one step ahead of you, moving the rigged up gate to the side to make his way up the stairs, pushing the on and off button on the computer when you aren't looking, dancing when there is any music on, foot stomping head banging kind of dancing.

Then the toddler turns little man surprises the hell out of you one fateful morning with his big boyedness.  While sitting contentedly at the kitchen table with a dry erase book he got last year for his birthday (actually it was for Avery's 'birth' day) he screams at you in a delighted Ro Ro shriek.  I look over at his fancy work and there in bright green marker was the outline of each letter to the word truck.  He filled out the outline of the letters without any help or prompting.  Big boy alert.  Then, as if to prove how smart and one step ahead of where I thought he may be, he did one of the mazes and made it from point A to point B with only one misstep.  Crazy.

These little steps in growing up seem to totally blow me away.  One day you are struggling, cajoling, bribing for your wee one to pee ANYWHERE but in their pants, asking them every 20 minutes if they have to pee.  Then, without even recognizing the change, you start depending on them to decide when to pee, letting you know, and THEN they just go when they have to go without any sort of consultation.  All that struggle and in the end, it happens when it happens and no sooner.   Kids, they are just full of surprises!