Posts Tagged ‘boy’

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Xander Week 66 - Curious George

January 28, 2008

IMG_0587When Xander was very young, Zach used to hold him on the couch and watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. For as long as we can remember, the sound of The Daily Show has been soothing to Xander - when he hears it, he will quiet down and listen - especially to the opening music.

I had read/heard that “excessive” television for children under the age of two alters the way their neurons fire in their brains. As a result, we have all but eliminated television from Xander’s daily routine. He’ll watch some on special occasions - as other family members houses, and sometimes in the late afternoons at day care. For the most part though, he doesn’t watch it, and rarely expresses any interest in it.

Recently however, we discovered a few shows on PBS that seem to be about Xander’s speed. Out of curiosity one day, we watched an episode of Curious George. Much to our surprise, our son (who up until this point never expressed interest in watching anything for more than a minute or two) loved it!

Although he’s still a few months shy of 1 1/2 years old, I decided that 1/2 an hour a day probably isn’t going to turn his brain to complete mush. Plus, it lets Zach and me unwind for a few minutes when we get home before we start with toys, books, dinner, bath, etc. Now, in the afternoons when we turn on Curious George, Xander squeaks with delight. This is one of the first characters that Xander has recognized. So much so that last weekend when shopping with his aunt (Mandy), Xander found a shirts with a Curious George logo and refused to let go. Mandy eventually bought the shirt for him. It’s a little too big, but he loves it…

After about 1 half hour show (2 adventures), Xander has had his fill. He gets down off my lap, and goes in search of toys. This makes me hope that my son won’t be a television addict, but I’m glad that we can relax together an enjoy this show. So Xander’s first official “favorite” character is Curious George - given his love of bananas and climbing, this seems somehow poetically appropriate.

baby, boy, Curious George, Daily Show, Jon Stewart, mother, motherhood, mothers, parent, parenting, parents, television, toddler, tv, watching television

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Xander Week 60 - Biased Department Stores

December 14, 2007

Xander ClausI love my son, and I wouldn’t trade the experience of being his mother for anything. That being said, before he was born, I wanted a girl. I wanted a girl to dress in skirts and pretty dresses. I wanted a girl to play dolls with and have tea parties with. So far, I haven’t missed that stuff too much. Playing trucks is ok, and for the most part, dressing Xander is just as fun as I imagined it would be to dress a little girl. The one complaint I have is with department stores and holiday clothing. I have been to lots of department stores, and this time of year I always scope out the holiday outfits.

In every single store, there are racks upon racks of little red velvet dresses. Dresses with lace, dresses with polka dots, dresses in every style and holiday color you could imagine. Then I begin my search for the boy’s holiday clothes. In places like Sears or JC Penny, there is typically a big column of dresses - 3 racks wide and 4 racks tall on all 4 sides of the column. The boys section is 2 racks wide, 3 racks tall covering two sides of a column. These clothes are far more generic - red sweater vests, black pants. I finally found a cute sweater with a little train on the front this year. Of course they only had one, and it was too small. Places like WalMart are even worse. They don’t seem to have any holiday clothing for boys, unless you count the red on the Emo shirts.

Why is it that girls can get dressed up but boys can’t? I don’t understand why little boys get shafted when it comes to holiday clothes. Why not more sweaters with winter stuff on them - snowmen, toys, teddy bears, etc. And why are these clothes always buried. Why is it that the girl’s dresses are right on the edge of an aisle, but the boys clothes aren’t next to them - they’re buried in the back of the clothing section.

I just want there to be some equality. I want to walk into a store, and not have to dig through an entire section of clothes looking for a holiday outfit. Every time I walk by those red velvet dresses I get angry at the inequality I see. I know in the grand scheme of things this is really nothing, but it still irritates me for the whole season.

baby, toddler, boy, boys, parent, parents, parenting, mother, mothers, motherhood, Christmas, holiday, holiday shopping, holiday clothes, holiday clothing, boys clothing, girls clothing, inequality, Sears, JC Penny, WalMart