Overcome by Cute Rays

When I was growing up I was definitely a tom boy... into climbing trees, skateboarding, camping and all that good stuff. And I was surrounded by 2 like-minded sisters. One time one of us got a Barbie-like doll for a birthday present from a friend. Not in the habit of playing with dolls, we somehow decided to take the doll apart (this most likely was Monica's idea!), probably to see how it was put together. We got all the limbs off and at some point I'm embarrassed to say the Barbie doll head ended up in the toilet! All of this is just to prove that I was a card-carrying tom boy and as one can easily guess, not a big fan of the color pink.

A friend had a girl in December. Before her daughter arrived, she went shopping for clothes and was dismayed to find that practically all girl oriented baby clothes were pink! I definitely felt her pain and said if I had a girl I definitely wouldn't want to dress her in pink either. Though I haven't gone to high end children's clothing stores, I hear they have a better selection of non-pink girl's clothes and better gender neutral clothes as well.

Then Maria arrived and somehow things changed. Maybe I was overcome by the cute rays or something, but the first time I went shopping for clothes for her I bought all pink clothes! Every morning I look in her closet and try to find the cutest outfit I can for her to wear, and yes, I often come up with something pink. I comfort myself with the thought that at least all these dresses aren't preventing her from climbing trees or anything like that. She can't even roll over yet! Even so, I'm left with the vague feeling that I've sold out on my tom boy roots. Maybe when she gets a little older and decides to rebel she'll ditch the pink and go for tree-climbing-digging-in-the-mud garb.

As a side note, my sister Monica remembers the demise of the Barbie doll slightly differently. She recalls actively hating dolls and that we actually sawed off the limbs using the vice on the little work bench our dad made for us! It's a miracle none of us have become mass murderers! Between the three of us we hold advanced degrees in physics, mathematics and electrical engineering... a hopefully more constructive channeling of our energies!