pink boy

I had quite a pink dilemma. Friday night, I decided to be productive with my time with Liam, along with shaking things up a bit. The same old lego boredom on my part, so we took off for Target. I needed school supplies and a host of sundries for the family.

Color is powerful and is a tool that Liam's preschool uses quite a bit. Each room is a color name. He's in the blue room, and then every day is a color.

So, he was having a grand time strapped into one of those giant shopping carts designed for two kids. We were looking at toothbrushes. I wanted to pick one up for Kalian. I asked him which color I should get for Kalian. He said "the pink one." Hmmm...not another pink item for Kalian, I thought. I picked up the lime green one. "What about this one?" I said. "No, the pink one is for Kalian." Well, I had asked him, and heck, why not, so I threw it in the cart, but regretted the decision as we continued shopping. Why does my girl need to have all of this pink stuff?

We then got to the baby section. I needed to buy him a crib-size sheet for his mattress at school for the theoretical nap that he may take there in the afternoons. I didn't see any neutral colors. The only ones they had were white, pink and one with sports equipment, including balls. I took all three off of the hooks and showed them to Liam "Which one do you want?"

"The pink one."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, the pink one."

Why didn't I just throw that in the cart and be done with it? I'm the type of mom that has been dressing him in pink since birth and encourages gender bending color strategies. I'm always changing all of the male characters in his construction books to females. Hank the Handman is known as Helen the Handywoman. Why should this be any different?

I kept thinking of the social pressure her in Cambridge. Would he get teased for it?

"Did you notice this one with the balls?"

"I want the one with the balls."

Oh, no, what have I done.

"What about the pink one?"

"I want the one with the balls, Mommy"

"OK" and I threw it in the cart. What else could I do.

Rather than move on. The next morning I took both kids to Target. It was all in the name of returning the boots I had bought for Kalian that didn't fit, but I really wanted to exchange those sheets. Since I had both kids, I quickly went through the store. When I got to the crib sheet section, I grabbed the pink one.

"But I want the one with the balls, Mommy." I hesitated.

"But you first said you liked the pink one?"

"The balls, the balls."

Ok, but I threw both sheets in the cart and bought Kalian a green toothbrush.