Know your Roll

I went to buy MT flipflops and underwear a few days ago. He has taking up a flipflop obsession. He calls them flippers, But sounds like feepers. It's hilarious and adorable. E and I are lovers of flipflops. (Re.efs are my fav) I have tried flipflops on him several times and he would not have anything to do with them. He would say they hurt and take them off. But, Our neighbor's little girl wears them and he adores her. He found an old pair a few days ago(like Neighbor's 2yr old) and will not wear anything but them now. The problem is they were too little but he wanted to wear them anyways. So, We went in search of a pair that fit.

I found a few pairs, pulled them down from the rack for him to see and choose which one he liked best. I chose ones with Fish and Camo on them. There were Pretty sparkly ones next to the ones I chose ... He wanted to pretty sparkly ones. OF course he does. Glittery Sparkles are So Flashy and eye catching ... I distracted him back to the 2 I chose first and we ended up with the Fish ones ... (then my brain kicked into overdrive)

Then we went to go pick up underwear ... He immediately saw and wanted the Tinkerbell Underwear. He LOVES Tinkerbell (we had just watched the movie a few nights ago) ... Then he wanted the Spiderman ones too ... I bought both. -Then My brain exploded.

I was at a lose of what to do. This got me thinking, What IS my stance on this whole Gender Awareness or Gender Identity? I began to google/researching MANY sites. (here is the most useful one i found)

I did contact a friend on Gchat - Because My first reaction is - Who Cares. What does it matter if a 2 yr old wants to wear glitter and tinkerbell? THEN, I started questioning myself. Should it matter? Should I care? We play with Dolls, We cook, We clean, We play with Bugs, Mud, Monster trucks. He loves Cars ( the movies, toys, etc), We play with a soccer, baseball, football, music, swimming. We read, We color, We play with just about every toy/book out there and We do imaginary play also. What I am trying to portray is that We do all that we can. I have the mindset to just let them embrace life as much as possible. They will never be as innocent as they are now. And I love that about both of them.

Ok here is where the post is going to bullet points because it will just be all over the place:

• When he chose the glittery shoes, I did not want him to feel as if there was a wrong choice
• Am I aware that people will have something to say if I let him wear the glittery sparkly shoes, YES...... Am I prepared to defend more of my parenting choices, I do this daily.
• He has longer hair than most boys and He already gets called a girl all based on his hair. He can be decked out in camo shorts and spiderman shirts, wearing Cars Light up shoes AND he will receive "she is just the cutest" comments ..many of these daily
• No, I am not going to cut his hair yet. I will if he asks
• What are your thoughts on toddler learning in relation to introducing gender identity? Have you already started teaching gender identity?

I feel very ill-prepared for this next step of parenting. I am simply speechless and right now. I want him to be whomever he wants to be. I want him to be allowed to explore and discover. I am ok with whatever He wants out of life. ( help me remember this when he is 18 and He gets to chose) BUT I know that there are others that Are NOT ok with such and I can't protect him forever, But right now, I feel like that Mother Bear that WILL eat whomever harms him .... AND I know there will be harm or negative gossips from onlookers. it can be a cruel world out there