My Girly Girl

I gave myself a pampering session and a bath but the most satisfying part of the day was nursing my poor little baby girl back to her normal self after a night of being sick. It was a relief to see that it was only a 24 hour bug and it went through her system very quickly.

My little R is a girly girl. She loves glitter, princesses, mermaids, Barbies, hair accessories, pink clothes, dresses with sequins and frills that twirl. She is choosy about the way her hair is styled and will not allow it to be cut, or even trimmed. I haven't been able to get her hair cut since she was 2 years old. All it needs is some tidying, but she refuses to have it cut half an inch. But I love all this about her! 

I find it fascinating that she is like this without my influence. As a baby, I used to dress her in pink babygros with heart and strawberry motifs but that is as far as I've gone when it comes to gender stereotyping. Most of her wardrobe is full of clothes of all imaginable colours, but the ones she wears the most are the pink ones. As she's turned 5 this year, I gave her the party she loves, which is a princess party complete with princess dress and princess cake. Up until now, she has not had a girly party, and there's no time like the present, because before I know it she might have grown out of the girly phase.

I had a personal training session at the gym which went really well. I found myself feeling very driven and determined. I promised myself that as soon as I go back to work, I will do some personal training sessions.
As I was walking home from the gym, I crossed paths with a transgender male. The man was dressed as a woman, in a knee length skirt, pick capped sleeve t-shirt, long, straightened hair, (possibly a wig?) and make up on his face. But what gave him away was his angular jaws, and his manly legs. I've never seen one in person before and it was strange to see him right there in front of me. I wonder how one ends up that way, being confused about their gender. It's such a core part of who we are, and the most fundamental part of out identity is whether we are a male of a female, yet some people cannot bring themselves to accept the body they were born with. What an incomprehensibly traumatic experience.

I then started thinking that some day my children will see these sorts of people and start asking me awkward questions. My daughter has already started with the questions. I love the scientific questions she asks me. Like, where does rain come from? How does it stay up in the sky? Why can we see the moon in the sky in the daytime and at the same time as the sun? It's endless. But I love answering them, and I often find myself stuck. I hope that both of my children never lose that wonder. So I make a huge effort out of making their learning fun.

I have a question of my own here: How can one person have so much capacity to love another?