The need for testosterone

Taylor wanted a boy. It’s plain to anyone that he is head over hills with the girls, but I know he wanted a boy . When the Radiology tech announced the sex of our baby, Taylor stood six inches from the screen with a grin that stretched from one side of his face to the other. I admit I was glad to know that the house wouldn’t be over run with estrogen too. I thought for a brief moment that I might miss the girly froo froo, the bows, the dresses, the shoes....
It only took one trip to babies’ r us to get me excited. Cute boy stuff everywhere and it wasn’t all “sports themed” either. You see that was my fear. I hate sports. I thought that having a boy, meant that you had to cover their walls in baseball stripes.
Growing up I was never a girly girl. I was a tomboy. I climbed trees, scraped my knees, had races up and down the street, I loved being outside, however I never played sports. I never liked watching sports. I didn’t date sporty guys. Baseball, soccer, basketball…..it’s just never held my interest. Not that I’m against them you see, its just that I have no interest. I was excited to find so many things to choose from, and I really liked the colors. Past the rows and rows of choices, I immediately picked out this one, and from there on my whole décor preference was centered on an auto/truck/tractor theme.
I also adore little cowboys. I think it’s my secret desire to live on the prairie and ride horses all day.
What I find interesting is Taylor’s need for Mattie to ‘be’ a boy. He hands him a car, a ball, or a plastic dinosaur instead of the baby toys he typically plays with. He takes him to Target and tells me how excited he was about the monster truck, or the roaring dinosaurs. He tells me they’re his favorite toys. I smile and when he leaves watch as Mattie contentedly picks up, and sucks on a random baby toy.

It’s interesting to see how different babies are from birth, and how much of that is really our own doing? Ali was a princess from the minute she could walk. She refused to wear anything but dresses for an entire year, and still to this day sleeps in the pinkest room you’ve ever seen covered in butterflies and fairies.. Was it that I assumed being a girl meant that she’d want everything pink and fancy?
With Meg I just let it happen She played with the toy cars her uncle gave her. She wore the old dress ups that Ali had grown up with. When asked her favorite color, she would recite every color of the rainbow. I didn’t paint her room until she was 3 and even then she didn’t really have a preference. She is the perfect combination of bug lovin tomboy, and Cinderella dressing princess.
I am not saying that showering Ali in pink made her a princess, or that not showering Meg in pink made her more of a tomboy. I just wonder what if any part we have in that, or if they were just born with their preferences.
If Taylor hands Mattie a ball 20 times a day, Will Mattie be into sports? If we keep dressing him in blue will his favorite color be blue? I think I’ll just sit back and see what happens. I’m sure Taylor will maintain that he loves the more masculine toys, but if he picks up a doll, I’ll just wait to see what he does with it.