Girls Can Wear Blue, Too!

Why is it that whenever I put Abigail in a blue outfit everyone calls her a "he" or says, "How old is your boy?" She's a girl! Today she was wearing a blue DRESS but that didn't matter. This happens every time she is in a blue outfit and I leave the bow at home. I very clearly remember the first time it happened; Robby and I were taking her for her 2 month doctor checkup and she was wearing a warm blue (like a robin's egg blue - with flowers on it!) footsie outfit. On our way to the doctor, we stopped for a quick bite to eat; it was her first time out without a bow or hat and someone sure did call her a boy. Because of that, she hardly ever wears "boy colors" out in public without a bow on her head.

As a side note, Robby just finished a gender and society class and one of the heated debates in that class was whether or not parents would buy "opposite gender" toys for their boy/girl; ie would the parents buy a girl a truck and a boy a Barbie. Buy is the keyword here, because more parents would allow their child to briefly play with the opposite gender toy than would actually purchase one if the child requested one. When he discussed this, I asked him his answer, and he said that there's no problem letting Abigail play with "boy" toys because there's less of a stigma. Then I said, well what about if we have a boy? His response surprised me - he said that until the boy is about 3 1/2 he would actually buy his son a Barbie if our son wanted one (after that, he said no way because he doesn't want his son to get made fun of)! Holy cow. I'm not sure even I would buy a boy a Barbie/doll in general - ever - regardless if they are 3 or younger! I've read the research when I was in school about play development, and Robby, through his class, was able to remind me of all the data (and give the new statistics), but geeze... All I can say is that I love Robby being in school! :)