Gender Roles

We had wonderful temperatures today and Cole has been asking me to get down our umbrella stroller for him to push around.  Since we could spend a little more time outside, I got it out for him.  He set it all up and announced he needed to run inside.  I pictured him grabbing one of his many animals, or perhaps a car - he's done that.  Instead, he came back with a cute little baby doll dressed in pink from the dark corners of Paige's closet.  This was 12:30pm.  He took care of that baby until bedtime.

If I could gather from his play, I would say that fatherhood is sufficiently going to stress him out.  This is a baby that laughs / cries / eats / sleeps.  If he got the baby to sleep, anyone nearby would get yelled at for breathing too loudly.  If the baby was too loud, he would move about in a frenzy looking for something to soothe her.  He even went so far as to bop her on the head when she wouldn't be quiet.  I used this teaching moment to instill a valuable lesson - and was thankful we're not around little ones all that much.

Tonight we sat together in a chair with our babies and he helped me fold laundry.  It pleased me that he was happy to venture from his usual play habits and try some new things.  So tonight, his baby is sitting in a play high chair in his room.  Right next to his light saber.