He Won't Wear a Tutu!

I love to have the gender debate with Bo. Yesterday we were driving to lunch after church, and he asked me what I my gut instinct was with the baby, and I said boy. He agreed. He said he just feels like he says "He" and lot more than "She." That really means nothing, but maybe my mama senses will be correct.

So the other night, Bo puts his hand on my tummy and prays for me and the baby before we go to sleep. It's very sweet and I love to think about all the things that we hope for you, Peanut. We pray that you will be smart and healthy and happy. We pray that you will grow up to love and respect God, and know Jesus as your personal savior. We pray that you will marry someone that will support you, make you laugh, and love you as a Christian spouse, to choose to love you every day, even when you aren't so loveable. (You know, in case you take after your mom's dramatic tendencies.)

I told Bo that I got all emotional when we watched the movie Juno because of the scene where her dad is sitting with her after her delivery. It is a sweet moment where he is stroking her hair, and I realized that my dad is the one person that WON'T be there when I have a baby. So I told Bo that he has some big shoes to fill. He has to teach our kids all about sports, the outdoors, fixing things and being handy, all about animals and rodeo... And I will be the one to make sure our kids have manners (I'm super anal), are cultured with museums and music and books, and will help them be eloquent speakers and dress nicely. I said I can't wait to take our kids to plays and the ballet.

So this is where the conversation gets fun. Bo says, "If we have a boy, he is NOT taking ballet." I said, "Well if he wants to, he can. What's the difference between that and gymnastics?" They both teach balance, flexibility, muscle control, and make them better prepared to play other sports in the future. All Bo pictures is a little boy in a tutu prancing around "like a girl!" I am not one of those people who wants their kids to be totally free to choose things against their gender, and later get beat up everyday. I just think it is funny to push Bo's buttons.

Then he says, "Would you let your daughter play football?" I said sure! Girls and boys play soccer together when they are litle, so why couldn't she play flag football? Tackle might be another thing, but I don't really want my son doing that either. Having a husband for a trainer made me really assess the risk of horrible injury differently.

I just laugh because we have had that conversation about ten times since we were dating. Particularly when I took a sociology class all about gender differences. Very interesting... I don't plan on traumatizing our child, but I did say that what daddy doesn't know can't hurt him.