JUST ONE OF THE BOYS - PART TWO

A few days ago, I stood in Target looking around unfamiliarly in the “boy” aisle of toys. My sweet little soon-to-be four year old daughter is enamored with all things rough and tumble. I am ok with this - - it doesn’t bother me in the least that she isn’t what you would consider really girly-girl. Don’t get me wrong – Aleita does have some tendencies toward the female persuasion – she insists on being sprayed with her special strawberry body spray each morning, she loves to wear barrettes and hair thingies as often as possible, and she loves when she gets to wear a nightgown instead of regular pajama pants. However, when it comes to playtime, she definitely prefers to be just “one of the boys.”

As I have mentioned on my blog before, Aleita almost primarily plays with the boys at her daycare. When she mentions her best buddies at school, they are all boys. In fact, she has become something of the leader among the boys in her class. Unlike her older sister who developed an interest in all things Barbie by age three, Aleita could really care less for the ever-smiling, perpetually tippy-toed long-haired doll with the big boobs, skinny waist, expansive wardrobe, and unlimited career options. Of late, Aleita much prefers Power Rangers, Spiderman, cars, trains, and trucks – which lead me to my confused state in Target a few days ago.

I stood there simply overwhelmed in the boy toy aisle. I don’t have sons, and have always been a pretty girly-girl myself, so I was completely clueless. Aleita’s birthday is next week, but her birthday party is this Friday. I had already been to order her “Power Ranger” cake at Wal-Mart, then stopped by Target for a few things. Since I was at Target anyway, I hit the toy aisle in hope of some inspiration. I stood before the Power Ranger toys and realized that they all looked alike to me. I am sure that Chris would have known instantly exactly which Power Ranger figures she already had, but I simply had no idea. Instead of accidentally buying one that she already had, I settled on a Power Ranger headband that makes noises and in which she can change the color from red to green to yellow and back again.

Yesterday, I took Maggie birthday shopping for Aleita. She picked out some Power Ranger underpants in the little boys department (no, I am not kidding), a blue Power Ranger toy, and two Hot Wheels cars. It was difficult to hold Maggie’s interest long enough to really look carefully at the toys she was selecting for her sister. I too, actually had difficulty taking the time to look – they all just seem to be an assortment of colored plastic men with varying weapons to me. The moment she was done, she said, “can we go look at the Barbie aisle now?” I gladly let her roam down the pink aisle full of Barbies and dolls before we continued on our way. At least this aisle, I understand.