Tag: gender roles

Superbabystar!

Published on by Darlene Dee22 Comments

It’s a Baby! It’s a Star! It’s SUPERBABYSTAR!!

OMG YOU GUYS! This Cat & Jack cape from Target is EVERYTHING!

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Babystar totally spotted this and picked it out all on her own, although it does seem like something I would want her to wear. She loves it. I love it. Huge win. ($24.99)

I love that it is size XS-M so she will be able to wear it for years. I love that it is reversible so she can have pink or blue, depending on her mood. (It was in the girl’s department but not in the boy’s department, which I found annoying because PINK IS NOT JUST FOR GIRLS. But the fact that they did not sell pink OR blue but rather pink AND blue is a step in the right direction.) And I love that it attaches with a single (largish) spot of velcro so she can pull it off herself in a pinch.

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And she’s off!

RAISING BABYSTAR: $20,361.20

Worker (Ba)Bee.

Published on by Darlene Dee2 Comments

Babystar likes tools.

Since it’s kinda dangerous and pretty dirty and maybe illegal to let her play with the tools on my workbench, we got her a set of toy tools. (Yes, I said MY workbench. I 100% guarantee that my husband would agree.)

They are cute and sturdy and BPACDEFG-free and made of recycled materials in the USA. This is my first Green Toys purchase, but I totally dig them. I bought them at Home Goods so they were less expensive than usual. Which I also totally dig. ($16.99 instead of $27.99.)

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Babystar digs them too. She took the pliers on the airplane to Florida earlier this month,  and ‘fixed’ the airplane window. Whew. Those other travelers don’t know how close we came to a possible broken window. Babystar to the rescue.

(Note: I had to go to their website to look up the actual retail price since I bought them at Home Goods. They have a pink set. Gross. GIRLS LIKE BLUE TOO. At least the tea set comes in both pink and blue too. BUT STILL.)

And while we are on the topic of fixing things, the living room ball pit has been getting some serious abuse aggressive love by visiting older kids. It’s totally to be expected, and a large part of me wants it to break completely and be out of my life, but alas. Babystar loves it too much. So we bought some Duck tape (yes, Duck, that’s the brand) and fixed the broken loops. $3.77. She picked yellow, so they don’t match the other loops at all but whatever. Also, we took the ball pit downstairs so it maybe gets less abuse and so I maybe don’t have to look at it as much. Win-win.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $15,654.99

 

Airplanes and Dinosaurs.

Published on by Darlene Dee6 Comments

Babystar is growing out of her pajamas. I was SURE I was set for the winter. I just gave away everything up to 18 months (except for one pair of Carter’s fleece pajamas because all of Carter’s clothes run small except the fleece or terry footed pajamas and we just have to accept this fact). I am trying to squeeze some more wears out of her 18-24 months pajamas but they are basically capris. Babystar is not tall; I don’t get it. But it’s cold at night. And she hates blankets. So I bought some 2T jammies to hopefully get her through the winter. The cotton sets were buy one, get one half off. I bought two of the same, so four sets of airplane pajamas. Babystar loves airplanes. She waves to them and blows them kisses. She knows the difference between and airplane and a helicopter. It is really funny listening to her trying to say helicopter. The fleece dinosaur two-pack was on clearance. She also loves dinosaurs. Yes, I bought these in the ‘Toddler Boys’ department but she legit loves dinosaurs and airplanes. Which she learned about from her pink laptop and the sky, respectively. Also, why are airplanes and dinosaurs for boys and not girls? Many girls ride in AND fly airplanes. Amelia Earhart, anyone? (Ok, maybe she is a bad example.) And I happen to know from watching Jurassic Park that there were DEFINATELY girl dinosaurs. So, what’s the deal?

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Also, I did LOOK in the ‘Toddler Girls’ section for airplanes. I found two shirts on clearance for $2.25 each, but no airplane pajamas.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $13,527.96

When Grandma Comes to Town.

Published on by Darlene DeeLeave a comment

Granny and Grampy (the in-laws) were in town last weekend and they wanted to take Babystar shopping for things that she NEEDS. I anticipated this because I am excellent at seeing the future and because they do this every time (AND because they kept reminding me) so I thought Stride Rite seemed the perfect destination.

Babystar got new Mary Janes because her current favorite shoes are about to not fit anymore (and I have no idea where to buy them). And she also got some fuzzy-inside, comfy winter boots because it gets cold here in Northern Virginia. So that was wonderful and very helpful. And Babystar even got a few stickers. Luckily, Stride Rite made sure she knew which stickers were appropriate for a little girl via the tried-and-true color coding system. And luckily my baby don’t give a fuuuuck. You already know we came home with Star Wars AND Sesame Street WHAAAAAAAAAT.

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Have you ever been to Tyson’s Corner Mall? If you live in or near Northern Virginia, the answer is probably yes. Do you know what store is right next door to Stride Rite? If you said the American Girl store, you win. Guess what you win? You get to give ME $100.

I have already gone on record about the American Girl store. But I’m not even mad. Here’s how it went down. Babystar raced into the red and pink wonderland so Grammy and I followed.

Babystar headed straight for the ‘babies’ like they were calling her name and singing her favorite songs and I’m not convinced that they weren’t. And of course the ‘babies’ are on REALLY LOW shelves, right? So here is Babystar manipulating Grammy into bringing a Bitty Baby home with us.

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So effective, right? I almost want to buy her one and I DEFINITELY DO NOT want to buy her one.

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Of course it worked. She even got an extra outfit because she said ‘kitty’ and pointed to an outfit with a cat on it. (Yes, she knows the word kitty and I am very proud but am I more proud of her vocabulary or her clear ability to control her world around her? I’m not sure yet.)

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She immediately has to show Grampy who is waiting on the bench outside because he is smart. And she is smart.

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And then be ALL CUTE about it. Jeez, ok, that little pose is worth $60, I guess. Suckers.

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And here I imagine her thinking, mama, give me the camera. This is none of your business.

The lovely, thoughtful,  well-meaning grandparents also bought her three pairs of maxaloones from etsy because I wanted her to have pants that will fit over her cloth diapers and hopefully last an entire season. I let Grammy pick (but I only showed her cute ones to choose from) and I’m excited for them to arrive in the mail!

RAISING BABYSTAR: $12,790.51

 

Baby’s First Gender Roles.

Published on by Darlene Dee3 Comments

Can we talk about baby clothes for a minute?

I bought six shirts for Babystar at Target the other day. (But this is NOT just Target. It’s everywhere.)

These three tank tops were from the Baby Girl department. ($4 each.)

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These three t-shirts were from the Baby Boy department. ($7.99 each.)

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Baby boys don’t wear tank tops?

Baby girls don’t like Nirvana?

Someone please explain this to me. It can’t be the colors. Look at the teal and the rainbow on Pink Floyd and the yellow on the Nirvana tee. Baby girls don’t like space? Then why are there stars and planets on that tank top? Where is the Baby Clothes department?

Alright, I’ll give you dresses. But why buy a dress for a crawling baby anyway? It is cruel. Her knees get caught on all the extra fabric.

I have been shopping on the ‘baby boy’ sides of the stores since Babystar was born. That is where you find all the cute space pajamas and monster onesies and dinosaur hats. GIRLS LIKE SPACE AND MONSTERS AND DINOSAURS TOO.

I have been buying ‘baby boy’ pants for my chunky Babystar just to fit them over her legs. I know other moms who had to buy ‘baby girl’ pants to fit their skinny baby boys. Why on earth are 6-12 month baby girl pants so much smaller than 6-12 month baby boy pants?

In fact, the only division that makes sense is to have a Skinny Baby department and a Fat Baby department. Put the dinosaurs and the butterflies and the trucks and the rainbows in both.

I mean, really. Find me a baby girl that doesn’t like cars. Find me a baby boy that doesn’t like cupcakes.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $7,509.82