The Hazards of Growing Up with Girls

Ryan has 2 sisters and a Mommy. He adores us all. This whole house is full of everything pink. Unfortunately, as a result of all our girly-ness Ryan has fallen prey to many a girly antic.

Today was not an exception. Ryan and Aurora have been playing so well with each other since Elliana came along. It's almost like they have a common ground now that they both have a little sister; they have been clinging to each other so much. Their fighting has even lessened, much to my absolute surprise and benefit.

Back to today, though:

The kids had been back in Aurora's room for quite some time, playing gleefully. They had not been quiet, but they had been keeping each other entertained and weren't fighting. So, I left well enough alone. When it was time for lunch, I called both kids out to their plates at the table and they came running out screaming something about "starving". That's when I noticed it:

Ryan's fingernails were PINK. I'm talking "Hello, Kitty" pink! Very casually and calmly, I asked him what happened to his fingers.

"Oh, Aurora did this." he said. He then took a bite out of his sandwich. Nothing out of the ordinary going on here, he supposed. I stifled a laugh. What would Rob think? Oh, my goodness! Daddy already has had to accept that Ryan loves everything little and baby. What would he think if our Squinky-loving and baby-loving son started wearing nail polish? No, I think we must draw the line somewhere. I think we may have just found where the line must be drawn.

So, I explained to Ryan that he could wear his nail polish for today only, but we were going to remove it at bedtime.

"Why?" he asked. I then explained to him that nail polish was really for girls to make themselves look pretty. Boys don't want to look pretty; they want to look handsome and nail polish is too pretty to be handsome. I let him down easily, and I hope he understands.

I am not one of those sexist people who thinks that boys need to be all about trucks and dinosaurs and lizards and LEGOs. My son is into all that stuff, anyway. For goodness' sakes, he had a Dinosaur-themed birthday party just last month! He just happens to have an older sister he adores. I think he was proud that she paid enough attention to him today and painted his nails during said attention-giving. For once, it was all about him and not about her--even if it was girly nail painting.

Anyway, the nail polish has now been removed and Rob is none-the-wiser (until he reads this blog post, that is). Ryan is pleased that he now looks handsome instead of pretty. Aurora got to paint someone's fingernails today. All in all, I think everyone's happy and we can now go to bed fully satisfied.