The Gender Thing

Sam's favorite color is pink these days, and he really likes it.  It's not a big deal.... is it?

Awhile back, Sam was consistently selecting the "girls toy" for his Happy Meal at McDonalds.  So while Casey was roaring around with a monster truck or a transformer Sam would be enjoying his Strawberry Shortcake or My Little Pony.  Some of you may have heard Jeff's amazing poem on his experience when Casey was 2 and wanted the My Little Pony instead of the Bionical - it details the cashiers confusion and Jeff's decision to get him the "boys toy" anyway.  It's very good.... and since then we have both tried to be non judgemental about these kinds of things.  In fact Sam has helped other people.  On the Strawberry Shortcake day, there was a little girl sitting at the table next to us and she asked her mom sort of loudly why that boy had the doll toy.  The mom looked over at me and smiled and then told her daughter that was his choice and it didn't really matter.  The girl sat up and got all wide eyed, "You mean I could get the monster truck if I wanted?"  "I suppose so," the mom answered as if it had never occurred to her either.  Ah freedom.
So we feel like we are doing the right thing - not telling Sam his favorite color can't be pink, not worrying about the stuffed animals he picks out that are pink or anything.  But the other day, we did our annual Croc shop - getting the boys their Crocs for the summer.  Sam went straight for the pink ones.  I wasn't really happy with the reaction I was having but I was having it.  "He can't wear pink sandals ALL summer!"  Jeff was more ok with it than I was and I was trying.   He then moved on to the purple ones and I was feeling more ok with that.  I thought we were ready to go when he suddenly noticed the bright green ones and decided they were his favorite.   It's such a bizarre thing - I mean who cares what color his shoes are?  But people say stupid things... even to kids they don't know.  So am I worried about what other people think?  Or just worried Sam will get his feelings hurt?  If I am honest though I have to say I am glad he went with the green because while I didn't like something about him in pink sandals I wasn't sure how to tell him "no" about the pink sandals either.
So green it was, and we will not have any trouble picking them out of a crowd as he might be the only little boy with the Dora the Explorer decoration on his Croc.  But we can handle that for sure  :)