Then we went to the wall of clothes; they had a special where you could pick two outfits from the wall for $15. So I told her she could pick one and then she and I would pick the other one together. I kept wanting her to pick girly colors and girly outfits but she kept going back to the outlets for the little boy bears (which were pretty cute little surfer type outfits). She chose a boy outfit, for her boy bear, and together we chose a white dress for if she wants her boy to be a girl sometimes.
She wasn't able to think of a name for her bear, so I told her we could come back another day and get his certificate.
The pink bear that was the twin to her blue bear was very cute. The outfits for the girl bears were alright - a lot of halter and cropped tops, honestly. (Why does a bear need to show midriff?) Why did I feel like her choosing a girl bear would have been better? What did I care?
I certainly don't care that she chooses cars as often as dolls when we play at home. She knows more about pirates than princesses, and we are happy, as long as they are happy.
I was so frustrated with myself for nearly putting the pink bear in her hand. Who am I to determine the gender of this bag of fluff?
Unfortunately, this gender stereotyping would be something that both my girls encounter very often in their lives. It has gotten a lot better than it was even when I was a kid from when my mom was a kid, but we still have a very long ways to go.
I look forward to continuing to teach the girls that it's totally ok to be a superhero, and play with cars, and make pretend dinner, and wear a crown, and be "girlie girls" with the "hearts of boys".
They were perfectly made to be wonderfully unique.
(The photo I am attaching to this blog post is a picture of her about a week before, playing with her cousin Teegan and sorting out cars. Gabbie is very methodical with her cars.)
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