This morning I was DE-LIGHTED to see BabySteals.com offering the fantabulous, super-awesome, life saving, colic soothing Miracle Blanket for $15. I pounced on that bad boy and ordered one right away. We only had one for Kendall, and I planned to add another to the stash before this baby arrives so we might be able to avoid the “Oh shit, he had a blowout/puked all over it, naptime is in 3 hours, wash it NAOW” situation we often faced the first time around.
The one Kendall wore every day of his life for at least 4 months was *GASP* pink. I purchased it out of desperation from a local baby boutique on a day I was particularly about to lose my f-ing mind. When I walked in and asked for it the sales lady turned her face into a bit of a frown and prepared me for some bad news. “Oh, hon. All I have is a pink one… but I’ll get more blue and green ones in next week.” I did not care if that thing was covered in glittery silhouettes of Richard Simmons face and lined with a fuchsia feather boa, and no way in hell was I waiting a week. I bought it, and my life was forever changed.
So I had to LOL and, yes, roll my eyes a bit at some of the feedback on the BabySteals.com Facebook page. There was much upset over the only blanket available for purchase being “too girly!” Many going on about how they would LOVE one and have heard so many GREAT things about them, or already have one that was a life saver and would really like another but… but…BUT IT’S FOR A GIRL! Okay, sure, if this were a full price retailer we’re talking about, if Babies R Us only ever carried “girl” colors, I could understand, to a degree, the outrage. But this MIRACLE was 1/2 price on a baby bargains website. You take your miracles where you can get them people, especially when the come 1/2 price!
Listen, I’m not saying we all have to dress our kids ambiguously. I enjoy a good “boyish” romper from Gymboree, too. I can understand not wanting to put a bow on your son, but a blanket? That they’re going to sleep in? What’s the aversion?
Reminds me of this time when I worked at a baby/kid’s boutique while pregnant with Kendall. A 5 year old boy came in with his mother and decided he wanted a pack of markers. We carried 2 versions of these markers- primary colors and bright pastels. He wanted the bright pastel box. I don’t blame him, those colors kicked the primary color’s ass. His mother spent 15 minutes talking him out of them, many times telling him, “But THESE are for girls, honey… see? There’s a pink one in it… and a purple one.” What harm is going to come from letting your son color with pink and purple?! It’s not like you’re buying him eyeshadow. And really, these are just a couple examples of the extreme opposition some people seem to have of any and all things pink coming in contact with their son.
My now 2 year old son, who spent a good portion of his young life wrapped tightly in a pink blanket, is about as rough and tumble as they get, he’s also kind and inquisitive, he’s sensitive and sweet. He loves to play the keyboard and throw footballs (not crediting the pink blanket for any of that… that’s the point). He wears a purple diaper to bed some nights…
A lovely Bum Genius 4.0 we're testing out
And his 2 favorite sippy cups both happen to be pink…
OH! And horror of all horrors, did you know Kendall is a popular girls name? What will become of my little boy? Well, only time will tell, but for now I can confidently say his penis and balls are still intact.
Kendall is 2 1/3 and I’m 23 weeks pregnant… with a girl… who will surely wear a ton of blue hand-me-downs.
By the way, as of 8:15 CST there are still Miracle Blankets available to “steal” from BabySteals.com!
Available now: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
31 comments
SIL bought us a beige Miracle Blanket as a shower gift. Beige so it’d be gender neutral. And I thought “EW. This thing is such an UGLY color.”
When your kid pukes 20 times a day and pees and poops as many times and the Miracle Blanket is the only thing helping you maintain a shred of sanity?
I’m with you. Break out the bedazzler. Boy parts be damned.
Oh, man, I hear you. We partially refused to find out our daughter’s sex during pregnancy b/c we didn’t want to get flooded in either pink or blue crap before s/he even arrived. With her a “surprise,” we got mostly green — my husband’s favorite color. Much cooler 🙂
Since she arrived and everyone learned we had a girl, I can’t tell you how many time I’ve heard, “Oh just you wait! You won’t be able to resist all the CUTE PINK STUFF! You’ll just want to dress her up in ruffles and dresses. Oh! YOU WILL!”
Really? Because she’s 10.6 months old and I’m still waiting for the urge to overcome me.
We dress her in blues and greens and purples and reds and oranges and browns and yellows and, yes, in some pinks. But her warddrobe is FAR from overwhelmingly pink and more often than not, we dress her “like a boy.”
I find the whole gender stuff with babies mind boggling. I don’t need to put her in pink frills to prove some sort of point. She’s a BABY. Who cares what junk she’s packing?
As a side note, we’ve learned the best way to keep the pink gifts at bay is to pointedly tell people that we’re planning more children and may end up with a boy. And if we do, he’s wearing hand-me-downs… even PINK ONES. You woudn’t believe how much this horrifies them, but they seem to believe us and stay mostly gender neutral. Whew!
I find it funny (and ridiculous) that some people get really hung up over colours for boys vs girl babies.
Story from the maternity unit:
One day I was coming back to the maternity unit with a brand new fresh newborn that was delivered by emergency c-section. I had grabbed a handful of blankets from the warmer and we went to the OR STAT.
On my way back we stopped to say hi to the new grandparents, who were totally horrified that I had used a peach blanket to swaddle their new healthy grandson. The grandma would not drop it and refused to take any photos until I re-swaddled the baby boy in a green blanket.
So silly!!
Ha you crack me up. My little girls name is Kendyl too!!
1. That BornFree sippy rocks, whatever color it may be. I should have conned you out of more of those things at BH.
2. The number of times checkout girls at BRU have attempted to helpfully redirect me to the item that I MUST have been shopping for in pink when they saw me buying sleepsacks, sippy cups, playmats etc in a color other than pink is pretty appalling. It’s honestly kind of creepy. My child does not have an assigned color, nor are there any colors which are forbidden to her. Dammit. It should be the same for boys. What is with people’s freaky gender/color obsessions anyway?
My 1.5-year-old son goes straight for the girlie stuff at playdates. He loves the Fisher Price tea kettle. It’s a pink and lavender tea kettle, and he loves it: http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Laugh-Learn-Say-Please/dp/B001IEYXAA. So what? I’m always happy when he’s found something that makes him happy. He’s spent long time playing with a toy lipstick, a baby doll, a play purse, etc. Some would have me take that stuff away from him and hand him a truck.
At home, his toys are very neutral. I’ve noticed with baby/toddler toys there are two choices: pink/lavender or neutral. I always get the neutral ones, and would probably do so even if I had a girl. We do want another child, and who knows if that will be a boy or girl. Plus, the “neutral” choices usually have brighter colors and more contrast, which is great for young eyes. But we don’t banish the pink that inevitably shows up. For example, spoons and bowls and such come in multi-packs with different colors. No way am I throwing out a perfectly good spoon because it’s pink. The kid eats from it with no problem!
“It’s not like you’re buying him eyeshadow” – HA. I will never understand why parents try to talk their kids out of playing with certain things because of its color. That is just the most backwards logic I’ve ever heard of. Who. The. Ef. Cares?
BTW – four gay uncles over here… not a single one of them had a pink blanket or a sippy cup. They had toy soldiers and guns. Didn’t stop them from liking to have sex with other dudes.
my littlest boy wore a pink hand me down miracle blanket. and I didnt care in the slightest. it was free. and he slept.
a friends son wears his sisters hand me down purple footie pajamas. sometimes he even wears her glittery ruby slippers to go with them. lol.
I love it. and im fairly certain they will end up just fine. :p
omg- we had a waitress last week look at my 12 week old son and go, “Oh, what a cute..boy… girl? I’m confused, I see a blue outfit but the pacifier is lavender..” I about shit a brick.. are you kidding me lady, a lavender pacifier?
I hear ya. I recently posed a question to Ju-Ju-Be’s fans on Facebook about whether they choose their diaper bags based on prints/colors the MOMS like or ones that *match* their babies’ gender. It was nice to see that the vast majority (maybe 80%) chose based on their likings.
yes, yes and yes!
One question – how do you get the BGs to work for you at night? My son is almost 20 months and I’m nervous to try CDs at night even though we do them during the day (99% pockets). Do you use an extra insert? I really don’t need to be waking up to a wet baby at night (I’m 30 weeks pregnant)!
Thanks!
I use an extra hemp insert and it seems to do the trick!
I feel you on this! I’ve been talking about it a lot with family and friends. I get a TON of flack for letting our 2 year old wear Disney princess underwear. His favorite colors are also pink and purple. And he loves pedicures. Do I care? No. So why does everyone get so worked up over nothing? I hate the fact that everyone is trying to impose these cultural gender stereotypes on kids who could honestly care less.
I could’ve written this post myself. My 18-month old Riley (gasp! a boy! with a unisex name!!) has been sporting 3 pink Bum Genius diapers since birth. What? I got them when I was pregnant, on clearance, and we didn’t find out if we were having a boy or a girl. He also has a favorite PINK sippy cup. Oh, the horror!
I understand enjoying buying something super cute and girly for a girl but I do not get being so militant about it.
Is it just me, or is the taboo MUCH stronger about boys wearing girl colors than the other way around? It kills me when women have this attitude. At the heart of it, it’s saying there is something wrong with being a girl, or being feminine or soft. For a woman to have that attitude is just sad.
Jo and I could have been separated at birth. Orange, green, dinosaurs, red with trucks that say ‘my favorite color is dirt’.. and we have a girl! Who knows what the future holds? I’d rather have a few outfits that could go either way, so as not to build another stash from the get go. We also waited to find out, and have 6 MONTHS worth of clothes that can go either way, so voila! 1/2 a year free! I have not bought a LOT of pink diapers, but if we have a boy, he WILL wear them, oh yes!
100% agree with you. Making a huge deal out of gender things will just lead to confusion. Let them buy markers!
Lol, I don’t preassign colors to my two boys but I do buy them boyish clothes because they ask for them. However, my youngest has both purple and pink diapers. We usually get a lot of questioning looks with my oldest because his hair is frequently long and people assume he is a girl (despite the shirt that says “BIG Brother”). Right now my boys have their toenails painted, my older one picked out orange and his little brother picked sparkly green and I see nothing wrong with that ; )
Ha ha!! I completely agree with you. Our ultrasound tech hinted at our 13 week appt that she thought it was a girl. So of course even though we warned everyone, we still have a pair of pink baby crocs and two pink onesies. If they were nighties and not so frilly it would be different, but now that we know we are having a boy, I think those will be going to Goodwill, I just just can’t do that to Noah.
this is great! I also fail to see the problem with cross-gendered toys and accessories.
at my baby shower for my son, the hostess had everyone paint a onesie for him. one of my friends makes killer cupcakes and so painted a cupcake on the shirt. another friend asked if I’d really want to put my BOY in a cupcake onesie… and get this, the friend who asked? he’s GAY. I just looked at him and said, if your parents had put you in nothing but football jerseys, would you have been straight?
this is a HUGE relief 🙂 if I have a boy next I’m totally putting him in the mountains of pink clothes we have around the house, and it’s a good thing to know he’ll remain a MAN!
Hi, Jill. I’ve been reading your blog since Kendall was born, but today is my first time to write…
I am pregnant with my first baby, and guess what? I’m due December 22nd! I don’t know if we are having a boy or a girl, since we have chosen to be surprised when he/she arrives. Our decision has caused quite a panic for some friends and family who NEED to know in order to (generously) purchase a gift! I think it’s funny. And you cracked me up today (actually most days)!
I apparently can’t tell “girl” baby clothes from “boy” baby clothes since my kid wore the exact same green and yellow and animal themed outfits as all the baby girls we knew for his first 6 months.
So far the only one who has objected to his pink sippy cup or his baby dolls or his shirt with the rainbow on it is my dad. But my dad just bought my unborn girl child a tiny NRA onesie, so at least he’s equal-opportunity with his love of handguns? My (very manly, military) husband has been awesome about the pink/girl stuff on his son and I’ve even heard him shoot down people who commented on it.
I have several mom friends who go out of their way to make sure their kid wears/plays with whatever the KID wants instead of what is the “right” color. And those kids? Are the most well adjusted I know.
This is one of your best posts ever! I agree 100% and can’t understand the parents who are afraid of boys and pink.
My cousin’s husband got made at his sister in law and yelled at her for allowing his son to play dress up. He destined to be a homosexual now, I’m sure. 😉
We only had one swaddle blanket too and I hated the mad dash to the washer when he crapped or puked on it.
I see no big deal over what color blanket your kid sleeps in. Color is color. My son has stolen all of my nieces pacifiers which are pink, purple, flowers, butterflies, all girly whatever. It keeps him quiet.
at daycare, the workers accidentally gave one of cayden’s sippy cups to another father. the father pitched a fit and said in NO WAY was that sippy cup his son’s because it was PURPLE. um, what? some people are just crazy.
Great post! Both of my brothers (who were 5 and 10 years younger than me, so I remember everything) wore my girl hand-me-downs. In fact, the middle child loved cooking in his play kitchen and would spend hours baking “cookies” and “pies.” One time at swimming lessons, when we were changing in the changing room, he said he would not go home unless he could wear my butterfly underwear. (I refused to wear his, not on the grounds that they were boy’s, but that they had been worn by my little brother.) He wore butterfly panties and I went commando… and today he is a happy, healthy, very heterosexual man. Not that it would have mattered if he were gay, but just goes to show that liking cooking and pink panties does not reflect one’s sexuality.
And yes, my mom was constantly criticized for “letting her son grow up to be gay.” I could not BELIEVE that people said this to her face, but they did.
Miricle Blankets are great but check out Woombies. I love these even more because they can last forever and baby can’t kick out or anything!
My twin boys have two zinnia diapers, I bought them from a friend when we were trying to figure out which CDs were going to work for us, and we decided on the flips, so we kept the two zinnias and added the “boy” colors to our stash… and I am planning on having one of my boys wear that zinnia cover the first day he wears his pink oxford shirt I bought him from Carters! I don’t get the color thing for boys/girls… my boys wear blue and green mostly… but that is because in the hospital they were assigned those colors (on their hats) to make it easier for the nurses to tell them apart and then it carried over to make it easier for family and friends watching them to distinguish… now that they are getting older and picking their own clothes they mix it up and sometimes the “green twin” will wear blue… but its just a shirt, it doesn’t define who they are!
Just came across this site and after laughing myself completely silly, I completely agree with you! I’m not a mother or anything, but I’m a preschool teacher and a certified, card-carrying tomboy (to the point that even my mother asked me if I was a lesbian. No, mom.).
One thing I can’t STAND is people saying ‘this is for boys’ or ‘this is for girls’. I don’t allow my students to say so, because I don’t believe it for a moment. I love to get dirty, I love to work with my hands (doing carpentry! I was the only girl in my class who willingly chose shop), and I love my motorbike!
There’s a little girl at our school who has a Thomas the Engine lunch box. Why? Um, because she loves Thomas. Another boy has a Dora blanket. So? He likes Dora. I can’t stand Dora, but I’m not going to hold that against him, he’s an awesome kid. He’s my high-five buddy. 🙂
I teach Montessori, and I just bought a washboard for my class to teach them to wash clothes. I also got a basket of baby clothes for them to learn to fold as well. My dad asked if I was going to teach the boys to wash clothes as well. Why wouldn’t I? I remember looking at him as if he was stupid. I love you, Dad.
If you’ve never read the book “William’s Doll”, I highly recommend it! It’s about a little boy who wants a doll more than anything else. It was also rewritten as a song, you can find it on YouTube.
In FACT! *nerd alert* It wasn’t until the 1900s that people began dressing girls in pink and boys in blue! Before that, boys were dressed in pink, because it was a shade of red and considered a more manly colour. Girls were dressed in blue, a fairer and softer colour, and also the colour of the Virgin Mary. And all babies wore dresses until about five years old when the boys got their first pair of breeches (this was known as ‘breeching’) and they were no longer considered a baby. So there!
Amen to that! I’ll bluntly say it: people are too darn gender specific in association to “things” and “colors”! I took the boys pj shopping recently. Nathan wanted Lightning McQueen and Thomas….Nick wanted Dora and Minnie Mouse. Who cares?????? Colors and characters that he happens to love, are positive influences and “girly” because their girls! He seems to still have all his parts in tact too!