This could quite possibly be the greatest thing the internet has ever produced...
I...am a SIMPSON!
And because I wanna be gettin' some during my time in Springfield...
Himself.
Thank you, Whit, for pointing me to this fantastic website. My life is complete.
So I'm sitting here at my desk, typing away at today's blog entry, when suddenly it strikes me...a sudden silence. M., who was seated not 5 feet behind me at her toy baskets, is not banging something against something else, or squealing, or shaking something noisy. I whip my head around and find this:
Holy crap! She's like a tiny, backward-crawling ninja! Clearly, I'm going to have to become more diligent. Because that worthless dog in the foreground, who should have been barking at me, "Mom! The puppy's getting away! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" is lying there as if he didn't realize that there are cords and little pieces and open outlets all over the house where M. is backward crawling. Now I'm going to have to babyproof and shit. Dumb dog.
In the spirit of getting myself writing again, I figured that whipping myself into a frenzy would be the best motivation, so here is yet another rant on gender issues:
First of all, it should be known that I am a scrapbooker. I loves me the scrapbooking. But one thing that I do not like about my hobby is its gender politics. For some reason, scrapbooking is considered "women's work"--that keeping the family history is the job of the woman-folk. That, however, does not keep me from doing it, nor is it the main theme of this post. It does mean, though, that I read a lot of scrapbooking magazines and that while reading such magazines I see a lot of layouts that glorify the "proper" gender identity of children. I am not going to post images of such pages here, though, because it is against the scrapbooking code to snark on other people's pages--let's just say that there are a lot of pages and products out there that announce "100% GIRL" or "All Boy" or "Girlie Girl." These titles are inevitably accompanied by photos of young boys and girls performing activities appropriate to their stereotypical gender roles: girls having tea parties in princess outfits or boys pushing toy trucks through mud...you get the idea.
This really pushes my buttons.
Especially the ones that read "100% girl" or "100% boy." What does this mean? Thank goodness my child is not a hermaphrodite? I'm so glad that Sally never grew a testicle--she's 100% GIRL! No breasts on little Billy--he's 100% BOY! And I know what these pages are supposed to mean, but really, the underlying implication is, I'm so glad my kid isn't queer.
Just once I'd like to see a page that says "Girlie Boy" or "Not-All Girl" or maybe even "75% Girl, 25% ?" I guess what I'm pointing out is that if Hillary Clinton represents one aspect of our society's deeply-rooted sexism, then parental expectations represent another. Most people want their children to follow strictly maintained gender roles, and when they do, it's a cause for celebration. When they don't, it's a cause for silence. Sons should never want to cruise the "pink aisle" at Target, and daughters should not enjoy the, er, "black aisle?" (I'm not sure what to call the aisle dedicated to Legos, Hot Wheels, and action figures--the "Action Aisle?")
And I know that there are those of you out there (Mom) who will say, "What's the big deal? A kid's gonna like what a kid's gonna like...you can't control that." But my point is this: by setting up these standards of what constitutes "All Boy" or "100% Girl," we also set up a framework for deviancy. A boy who wants a pink fairy Barbie is deviant, as is a girl who'd rather have a Millenium Falcon Lego set (Mmmmm...Millenium Falcon Lego set...drool!) We don't tell the children they are deviant, but we show them they are by celebrating those children who are not. So kids are not just "liking what they are going to like"; they are struggling with what they should like.
Of course, I'm the big hypocrite here because if M. decided to like Barbies, I would say, "Too bad...no Barbies in my house." So I guess I am encouraging her to reject her stereotypical gender role as much as another mother might be encouraging her daughter to accept it. I feel I have to do this, though, not only as a mother, but as a woman. Because it's only a short step from this "Girlie Girl"...
To this one...
click on picture for larger viewI've been a lazy writer lately, so please accept more adorable pictures of M. in place of my ramblings. She is changing so fast that I need to take lots of pictures to remember what she was like the day before.
Where did she get all that hair? She's already got enough for ponytails!
A present from Aunt Megan...M.'s first mouse ears from Disneyland.
M. is working on crawling, but she currently can only push herself backwards, which means she usually ends up under the furniture.
Hanging out with Auntie Crystal and Lucy--M.'s swimming buddy.
At the movie theater--M. loved Homer! She laughed and laughed!Mama and I are currently in Long Beach visiting Auntie Erin and Uncle Brian so that Mama can be their professional organizer. I am so excited about this because it means I get to spend lots of time with my friend Claire. Mama has been very busy, so she asked me to post some pictures for everyone to see.
I was very good for my second airplane ride. Mama let me sit in my own seat and I even got this bag of peanuts! Mama told me that I wasn't old enough to eat peanuts, but I sure liked the shiny bag!
On Wednesay, Auntie Erin took us to meet friends of hers at the park. I was too little to play with all the other kids, but I liked swinging on the swings and riding this froggie.
On Friday we went to Claire's playgroup and I had fun playing with other babies. I had never been around so many babies before! I didn't mind, though...I was very interested in meeting them all.
On Saturday we went to a restaurant called Lucille's. They have food called barbeque. I know that this is Mama and Daddy's favorite food, so I thought I'd try some. Auntie Erin gave me something called a rib, and I LOVED it! I also ate macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, and biscuits. Yum! Mama says that this is one of her very favorite restaurants...I think so, too!
I liked to chew and suck on my rib...
Claire uses hers to eat her sweet potatoes.
After eating BBQ we were so messy that we had to take a bath. I like splashing Claire and chewing on her rubber duckies. Claire likes combing my hair and splashing me back. We had lots of fun!
That's all! I am having a very good time. Mama says that she will be back to blog in a few days.
Love,
Matilda
...Lots more chances for good photographs.
I'm not usually a big fan of pink...but these were awfully pretty.
