The Consequences of Pink

I have never been much of a "girly". Okay, so I do like a night out in a posh frock occasionally, but on a daily basis I tend toward pragmatic, not fashion or even attractive. It's true that I would like to feel more comfortable in feminine attire, but I don't and it's not exactly suitable for walking the dog anyway. Make-up only comes out on rare occasions. Boy babies somehow seemed more likely to fit in with this and the girly part of toy shops would leave me feeling either disinterested, appalled or with a feeling of dread.

Along came Isla.

Then came the bouquets of pink flowers.
And the pink cards.

And the pink clothes.

Oh dear...

I thought we were meant to moving away from gender stereotyping. It appears not when you are under five. Not when you can be marketted to!

It has occured to me over the past weeks that there are various consequences of having a "pink" baby. Some I may bring myself to comes to terms with; some I can imagine becoming potential sources of tension and some will be non-negotiable, at least for now.

Hair slides

Bows and other accessories.

Piercings

French plaits and other time-consuming hair styles

Make-up

High heeled shoes

Boyfriends

Nail polish

Crop tops

Dollies

"I'm not going climbing - I could break a finger nail...!"

Fairies and Princesses and other areas of Disney marketting

Boy bands

"Tweenager" marketting

The whole "Boys are little terrors and girls are little angels" thing.

And so on.

This got me looking around and I found a website called Pink Stinks. Well said.

A Quiet Evening in...

Angus is asleep, Isla is asleep, and Ken is away. I finally have a quiet evening in all to myself and a chance to unwind and catch up. I may even get around to loading some photos if the phone doesn't ring again!

Isla is doing well. She had her 6 week check up last week, even though she was actually ten weeks old! There was a lag after Christmas. Isla weighed in at 10lbs 5oz and is already able to stand with a bit of help with balance. This is so different from Angus! He didn't stand until about four or five months old although he also had good head control, and as many of us know, he was laid back to the point of laziness. Isla is far more assertive and quite determined to find a way to communicate to you exactly what she wants. A tongue being poked out means she is hungry; a wide open mouth and she wants her Schnuller (pacy [how do you spell that?]/dummy). Get those around the wrong way and she is not a happy bunny. She doesn't like being left out of things and will cry and get very cross if left in her seat. She would much rather be held and shown what's going on, or just cuddled! She mostly likes her changing mat and smiles at you, but only rarely tolerates a bath. Her play mat (Angus's favourite when her age) is a no go area but today sat in his doughnut play ring thing and really enjoyed it. Vertical seems preferable to horizontal and she regularly wants to practice standing and will complain until you help her up.

I see trouble ahead..... Two headstrong ladies in the same family ( maybe I should make that three, or is it four, or even five....?!) could lead to fireworks. We should all start praying for Ken now I think...

Angus is still smitten with her and told me today that he loves her. Actually, he loves a lot of people right now and is being very affectionate. He is still proud of his sister and regularly tells me things that he is going to teach her. Today he was going to teach her how to use my i-touch but he is also going to show her how to chop wood for the fire with the axe, how to light the fire, use a Bow saw, use the hand drill, run, tell her about Mallard his current obsession (a steam train - Google it), and do a pooh in the toilet. There is a certain amount of irony in that last one as he hasn't cracked that area yet and is going to see a hospital specialist in a few days. He is thoroughly enjoying being a big brother and wants to share his toys with her and asks me when she is going to grow big enough to play with. Fortunately scrapbooking has an advantage here as he can see when he did different things by looking in his book and this gives him a bit of insight into time scale.

I have just tried to add photos and it won't let me. Guess that lets me off the hook until next time. I will spend the rest of the evening finishing Thank You letters and editing photos for next time.