Gender Disappointment

I need to start this post out by saying that I did not experience one iota of gender disappointment when we found out we were having a boy. I knew that my husband so wanted a boy. He had visions of Boy Scouting, camping, hunting and fishing, and while he could have done all of that with a daughter (well, except Boy Scouting - I think they frown on that) it would not have been the same. His enthusiasm quickly became my own, and when we were told that our little bug was indeed a boy, we were elated.

That said, I am experiencing a lighter, more trivial form of gender disappointment that is entirely clothing related. Baby girl clothes are awesome. Baby girl accessories are even better. Baby boy clothes are, for the most part, pretty boring. Sure, we have the cowboy boots, the camo pants and the Oshkosh B'Gosh overalls, but beyond that the boy selections are limited to sports themed clothing and monkeys. Lots and lots of monkeys.

This disparity is never so clear as during the Easter holiday. Right now, the infant section at Target is bursting with beautiful, frilly Easter dresses in wonderful pastel colors, patent leather shoes, beautiful Easter hats, little fru-fru stockings - all kinds of eye candy for little girls. And four hideous sweater vest combos for boys. I counted them, there were four, each one uglier than the next. I'm talking 1970-called-and-wants-its-golf-pants-back ugly. At least two of the outfits, if put on an actual child, could have constituted good evidence of child abuse. I'm all for taking embarrassing photos of Jack to show his future girlfriends, but even I have to draw the line somewhere.

My husband has already forbid me from buying a frilly little Easter dress ensemble even if I promise I won't put it on our boy. Sigh. I never get to have any fun. Instead, I bought my little boy a gender neutral stocking cap with bunny ears. Apparently, that's as good as it gets for a little boy at Easter time.