Birthday!
Zoë had a most splendid birthday. First, she had a party at school. Since her class is very small (five children total, with two teachers!), they have the ability to do a proper party. A party also gives the opportunity to teach a lot of social skills. I had spoken to the teacher earlier in the week to find out if any of the children had allergies or anything else I should know about, and to arrange for the party, and I turned up about 1:30 with party bags (complete with little toys and party hats, as well as the requisite assortment of lollies), and with a dozen or so cupcakes.
When I arrived, the kids and teachers were doing a dance, one of the "turn around and clap your hands and wiggle your hips" type deals that kids do. I joined in, which Zoë found very funny. I was also surpised to note that they'd hung up crepe paper streamers (pink and purple) and balloons, and there was a gift table!
Zoë was thrilled to have candles on the cupcakes and the "Happy Birthday dear Zoë" bit was exciting beyond belief, judging by the look on her face... Zoë got some lovely gifts, including a charming little dolly that she's been taking with her everywhere, and then the teacher suggested I take Zoë home a bit early, which I was happy to do, because it meant she could go with me to get her birthday cake (a banana cake from The Cheesecake Shop, which I can highly recommend).
At dinner, she got out the special "Happy Birthday" placemat that we have and use for birthdays (she loves that part of the birthday ritual), and ate all her dinner and then was very excited about the cake, since we had special candles that spelled out "Z O E 7" plus three more sparkly pink candles (that she chose). She blew out the candles as per standard ritual and had a bit of help cutting the cake, and was just thrilled with the whole thing (although she didn't eat the cake; she just knows she's supposed to have one, she doesn't actually like cake very much).
All in all, a brilliant day for Zoë. She went to bed a very happy girl who had a very happy birthday.
So very random
Today at the shopping centre, Zoë was wearing a pair of OshKosh blue denim overalls, an orange tshirt, and a pair of very pink, girly sneakers with sparklies on them. Her hair is currently about shoulder length, and she's got a fringe (bangs). While going up one escalator, a man coming down the other side asked, "Is that a boy or a girl?" When told it was a girl, he remarked, "Looks like a boy."
Uhm, okay. Whatever. But this makes me wonder a lot of stuff....
First, to what benefit is it for us to know that this bloke's opinion is that a girl in unisex clothing and pink sneakers looks like a boy? Is it to encourage us to dress her in pink tshirts when she wears the overalls? Or to grow her hair longer and tie it up with ribbons? Is it to persuade us to dress her up in something appropriately frilly so that random strangers on the escalator can instantly guess her gender at a glance? And why is it important for random strangers on the escalator to know her gender, anyway?
Secondly, why on earth should I care what Random Escalator Man thinks? I don't think she looks like a boy, especially, but then, I'm not into the whole "girls have to wear pink" thing (though my girls do wear pink sometimes, and dresses, and other girly things like polished fingernails).
Thirdly, why did Random Escalator Man feel the need to blurt out his opinion of my daughter's apparent gender as he saw it? I have a theory on this one.... He was momentarily confused by her mostly unisex appearance, and had to say it out loud to make himself feel better. Like, by saying she looked like a boy, he could sort it all out in his little mind and it excused his incorrect guess as to her actual gender. Or something.
I dunno. It's all pretty weird, and I've no intention of always dressing her to the expectations of random strangers. I know she's a girl, she knows she's a girl, everyone who matters knows she's a girl, and the very pink, very sparkly, very girly sneakers and shiny painted fingernails should be a dead giveaway, in any case.
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