Pink vs. Blue

How can girls and boys be so innately different? Girls have soft voices and dance and skip. They believe in fairies, mermaids and princesses. They love to play house, dress up, put on makeup, cuddle their babies and carry their purse around while gabbing on a toy phone.

The world is a bit different to a little boy; a lot more rough and tumble. Why does a toy car instantly becomes a battling ram, their finger transforms into gun and they stop and squish every ant they see?

In past years I have been surrounded by boys. I have five brothers and three sons. Trey's first sentence was "shoot the ball." I have hundreds of action figures and match box cars, balls from every sport and a box of weapons overflowing in my storage room. Growing up I had my fair share of Barbies and Cabbage Patch dolls, but I also loved He-man, Transformers, Lincoln Logs, Definitely Dinosaurs and spent hours in the loft dangling our Rambo toys over the balcony in well rehearsed action scenes. We had a ball and I could enjoy bits of both worlds, the pink and the blue.

Once the girls arrived I was in awe that there were loads of pink laundry in my washing machine. Who could have imagined that bracelets and headbands and tights would be part of my daily routine? I bought doll strollers and Cabbage Patch Babies for the girls' birthday. I thought I was doing well.

That was until this week when a little three-year old girl came over to play for the afternoon. Here's how the conversation played out. " Do you have any dress up clothes? No. Do you have any dress up shoes? No. Do you have any crowns? No. Do you have any Barbies? No. Do you have any necklaces? No. Do you have any princesses? No. Do you have a doll house? No. Do you have any......? No, No, No.

I realized I didn't have much to offer in the girl department. I managed to find two Halloween costumes I had bought for Brynn and Kaitlyn to wear in the fall, two beaded necklaces we got at a football game, a single Barbie from my cedar chest that I got when I turned twelve and some Madame Alexander dolls I had gotten from McDonald's Happy Meals. It wasn't much, but it managed to entertain her for a few hours.

So yesterday I went to Wal-mart and Dollar Tree and loaded up on some much needed items. I figured Brynn and Kaitlyn will be asking for it shortly, so better now than later. Only $15.00 later I am now the proud owner of Beach Glam Barbie and Ken, two pairs of dress up shoes, two long and curly hair pieces (as you can see from the pictures we tested them out today), two tiaras with earrings, three Hawaiian leis and two wands. That should do for now.......