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Thursday, October 01, 2009

Two weeks

Some time in the next two weeks I get to find out if I have a son (or, of course, if Ellie has a little sister). Deep. For whatever reason, I find the concept of having a son to be incredibly foreign to me.

4 comments:

spleeness said...

Did you feel that way when you were pregnant with Ellie? That having any baby in real life felt foreign?

Can't believe it's coming up so soon, can't wait!!

Heidi said...

Foreskin is not a birth defect! LMAO!!! I swear it was you who posted that from a bumper sticker. Was it?

The other gender thing...I get you. It wasn't until after O's first birthday that it really sunk in that I had a girl. I felt like an imposter shopping for girl clothes. Didn't help that after 5 years as a boy mom I'd automatically start looking at boy stuff in the baby section out of habit. Weird. Hanging with Olive is still a learning experience as she is ALL girl, but with rough edges. I still stare at her and wonder what we should do each day. At this age I'd often take the Cracker to watch construction. I'd bring a book and we'd sit for HOURS. 99% of his life was vehicles. Olive is all about pushing her doll stroller and jamming a fake bottle down her stuffed animals throats. And she really likes to be read to, play with her shoes, and look at clothes in stores. But the above never seems like enough to fill our days, but somehow it is. Even now with plans to have a third I see that baby as a boy.

Are you guys guessing? Jason sees Michael as a father to two daughters. Have you looked at a Chinese birth chart? It was right for both of mine.

melissa said...

oh, niff, i've had one now for well over a year and sometimes i still find the concept of having a boy foreign. it's so weird when they're babies. they're just androgynous little beings that get to be whatever clothes we put them in except for the odd little differences in diaper changes (a scrotum IS about as difficult to clean as a vulva!).

i've spent the better part of the last year saying, "woah. i have a son." though it takes days like today for it to really catch hold... days when we go to the auto shop and he sees a car up on a lift for the first time, and he just wants to look at it again and again and again... and he signs more, more to look at the motor boat that is parked by the garage. only at times like this do i think, "oh. he's a boy."

... and now that i've gone into all these details, watch you up and have a girl! it's cool. they get WAY better clothes.

Niffer said...

Spleeness - No, I didn't feel that way with Ellie, though even then it seemed more natural for me to be the mother of a daughter.

Heidi & Melissa - I think it's interesting that you both said the same thing, only from different perspectives. I guess the feeling is normal and won't go away any time soon.

I had to laugh at Melissa's realization when her boy wanted to stare at the car forever because it's what Heidi said her boy used to do. Ellie certainly would never have that kind of interest in any kind of vehicle. She's starting to get way into princesses and jewelry.

I've always wondered how much of that was nature vs. nurture, but I am beginning to think that much of it is really just wired in these little bodies when they're born.