Variant

Patrick has always been the boy who likes to wear bows like his sister, but after today, I think I can honestly say I'm "parenting" a gender variant kid.  We had an accident at gymnastics, and of course I didn't have any extra clothes.  Lilly was in leggings, so I put her underwear on Patrick so we could at least leave the bathroom.  He pulled it up, grinned at it, and grinned at me - I think he prefers teal with monkeys to Thomas the Tank Engine.

When one of the other moms arrived, I asked if she had any extra clothes by chance.  Patrick is the only boy in the class, but hey - if the pants fit, I didn't care who they were made for.  Thankfully, she did have some pants.  Corduroy, peachy-pink, sparkly, his size.  He was pretty happy with those, too.  I was happy he was clothed (and secretly also very happy that he was so happy at the girls' pants).

When we got home, he ran to show Daddy that he was in "his friend Ellie's pants."  I said something about him liking them, and his dad responded "I'm sure he does."  Once Patrick got his diaper on for nap, he opted to put the borrowed pants back on.  He smiled and told me they were "fancy pants!"

He picked out his stickers (another post, but long story short, they get stickers for eating without tantrums); I heard "Lina look what I got!" and he ran down the hallway to show me the two glittery princess stickers.  He was really super excited about those.

I love this kid.  I love that he's in the family he's in.  I hate that I'm sure "society" will beat this out of him soon, or if not, that he'll be fighting for a very long time.  But I took a picture of him in pink sparkly corduroys so I'll remember.  Patrick, you're awesome, and you don't even know why.