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.

Hangin' with the Boys

When Aleita started attending the daycare center that she is at about three months ago, she came home talking about her new best friends - - she constantly brought up Polly and Adrian. Turns out she was talking about Paul(y) and Hadrian – both boys. When Aleita names the kids she likes the best in her class, they are actually all boys.

When we go to pick Aleita up at daycare after work, it is common to walk in to find two groups of kids playing: the girls are generally playing dolls and dressup on the right side of the room, while the boys are usually found playing with cars, blocks, and action figures on the left side of the room. There is an exception - - nine times out of ten, Aleita can be found playing with the boys. Anyone who knows Aleita knows that she is something of a bruiser. By and large, she prefers rough and tumble play to quiet, subdued anything.

The boys seem to have no qualms about having a girl in their midst. If they did, I have no doubts that Aleita would quickly set them straight. She can definitely hold her own with them.

This Christmas, Aleita asked Santa Claus for Power Rangers, Spiderman, and a motorcycle. Santa, being the obliging sort, indeed got her all of those things (Spiderman actually rides the motorcycle – we considered one of those battery-powered deals for about five seconds, but we had visions of her taking off unannounced and making her way down the street to see our friends, Barb and Greg, or making an attempt to head through the country to her Grandma and Papa’s house.)

A few weeks ago, Aleita and I went to McDonald’s for lunch. As she watched the girl put together her Happy Meal, she piped up about the time the toy got dropped in. “I don’t want a doll!” she yelled. “I want the boy toy!”

This morning, after I had gotten the kids ready for school and was getting ready myself, Maggie asked Aleita if she wanted to play in her room with her (a rare request these days.) Aleita, who had been playing with her Spiderman, carried him into Maggie’s room with her. Maggie said to her, “let’s play Barbies,” to which Aleita said, “ok.” About two minutes later, Aleita was shrieking and being pushed out of Maggie’s room.

I asked what was going on, and Maggie complained, “everytime I set one of my Barbies down, she runs over it with her motorcycle!” to which Aleita responded, “well that’s how I play Barbies!”