ugh...and I thought being a girl was hard

Okay, so let me set up the scenario for you:

I am doing my make-up at lightning speed because I am running behind this morning. Connor is in my way, as usual, and he reaches for one of my make-up brushes. He then proceeds to start swiping his face with me, trying to mimic everything I am doing. When he used to do it, I thought it was so cute and the brushes are soft so I thought they felt good on his face. Now, at 3, I was irritated because I was rushing and told him to put it back because make-up is for girls. He responds, "When I grow up and be a girl then I can put on make-up." **Sigh....as I realize that apparently kid and grown-up differences haven't completly taken hold in his little preschool brain. So I say, "Buddy, when you grow up, you will always be a boy. You're special because you are a boy and Alaina is special because she is a girl." To which Connor replies, "But I want to make-up." So I try to reason and say, "But Connor, there are so many cool things boys can do that girls can't." And in my head I search and search for a really good, cool example of something that will make Connor understand how cool it is to be a boy...but I come up empty handed. I was raised to believe I could do anything the boys could do, I have every intention of raising my daughter with the same go-get-em, "I am fierce" mentality.

Now, having a boy, I feel like boy's get jiped. Girls have most of the dress-up options covered and Connor is getting to the age that he likes to play dress-up. Usually he wants to be a pirate or a cowboy, but without spending a crap ton of money during the Halloween season, he's S-O-L in the costume department. (PS- I'll be making some costumes for him soon.) Girls play all the same sports, they can participate in all the same activites as the boys.

It's tough having a boy...if a girl wants to play with boy toy's then she is a tom-boy. But if a boy plays with girl toy's, well, sterotypes can be harmful and brutal and downright mean. I feel like from the get-go a boy has to be a certain way so the child and the parents aren't being judged and looked down on. I guess this point really hit home for me yesterday afternoon when I took Connor to gymnastics. YES- Connor is in gymnastics and I am A'OK with it. There are ZERO sports options for 3-year-old's to run out their energy, learning to play cooperatively with others and start developing eye/hand coordination. Gymnastics was our only choice and low and behold, he is the only boy in the class. Wouldn't you know, I got the dirtiest looks from a dad sending his daughter in the same class. He kept eyeing me and then looking pitifully at Connor, as if I am subjecting him to some form of public humiliation. I wanted to ask, "Is there a problem?" But I kept my mouth shut and just let it be.

I guess I want my son to be empowered and proud of his being a boy/man the exact same way I want to instill that same empowerment to Alaina.