Monday, January 26, 2015

Daddy's Rock Star!

I packed up the boys' old clothes last week.  Aside from the infant onesies and sleepers I had given to a friend after my supposed last baby Alex outgrew them, I had everything tossed haphazardly into the boys' closet.  Some stuff was in garbage bags, some stuff was in wine boxes (ahh, wine.... sigh), but most of it was just out and loose, a barely contained hurricane of memories and dried spit up stains.

What a task, to organize and then give away a piece of the boys' forensic history.  Every outfit reminded me of some special moment from the past four and a half years.

Baby Andy, closing a huge real estate deal.


One year old Dragon Alex, winning the hearts of the public.

I did not save any outfits for sentimental reasons.  I had to draw a line in the sand; we are packed to the gills in this house.  I only saved items that I could reasonably see dressing my daughter in.  Easy task, right?  Very difficult.  Of course, any newborn items in duckies or yellow or green were a given. Every gender loves a good duck!  Sometimes even Chris and I share yellow and green clothes between us!  Completely neutral.  But then some items threw me into dicier territory.

Cue the "Daddy's Rock Star" onesie, the one with the picture of a drum kit on it.  It's navy blue, and it's clearly for a boy.  But, honestly.  Can't girls play the drums?  Can't my daughter be the rock star? After all, Andy's already setting himself up for a lucrative career in real estate, and Alex will likely be a mascot for a major league baseball team or the local cell phone store, so it's probably my third and last that will likely be the musician.  I stared at this onesie for a long time before putting it into the save pile.  This is the kind of mom I want to be.  Although drums are a bit loud, I may have to discourage that particular instrument anyway.

And then "Bananas For Mommy."  Again, it's obviously a boy outfit.  It's got a monkey on it.  Boys wear monkeys, girls wear cats and... unicorns?  But I'm pretty sure Baby Sister will be bananas for me, as I'm a great person and a bit of a pushover when it comes to candy and juice.  So, yes.  Save. She will be bananas for Mommy.

Yet I had to be careful, because soon I was saying, "Can't a girl like [trucks, dinosaurs, being handsome, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wearing cargo pants, etc)?"  And that for sure is a slippery slope.  It's one thing to be a champion for a girls to be rock stars and find monkey-related produce delicious and an apt way to describe love for their mother, but if I get carried away, pretty soon people might be commenting on my three boys.  When one of them is a girl. Which may or may not be perceived as a problem.

And so I saved certain clothes and packed up others, filling boxes and bags to give on to the next baby boy that's been announced.  The boys' closet looks incredible right now- clean and clear and totally under control except for one bin filled with duck stuff, rock star stuff, and banana stuff.  Oh, and all of the boys' old footie pajamas, because who gives a crap about whether or not this girl sleeps in dump trucks.  I mean, not literal dump trucks, but dump truck print.  You understand.

I will have to amass some girl stuff soon- but only after I get the girl.  For now, I will enjoy the space of the empty closet and the slow punchy movements of my baby in my belly and my two boys snuggled on either side of me.  There's still plenty of time before we're a family of five.  Four and a half and a closet waiting for a couple of ruffles is just fine for right now.

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