Things are prettier when a girl comes to play.

Thankfully, my boys have never made a big deal out of girls. As in, thinking girls are gross or have cooties or are unequal to them in any way. Girls have always simply been friends. The color pink has never been one they've unreasonably associated w/ girls. Therefore, they've never freaked out from being CLOSE to the color pink or the color purple. Some of their closest neighborhood friends have been girls. Play group friends have been girls. (They loved Hannah Montana for a bit and even saw her in concert. shhhhhhh) We've had easy conversations about girls in their class.

Never have I teased the boys about having a "girlfriend," and I'm a slight bit uneasy when conversations with friends or family take that turn. Because that inevitably leads to inappropriate descriptions of looks and appearance. And I think that's entirely unfair and silly.

As much as I want my boys to treat girls as their equal in every way, I also insist they be gentlemen. I don't want them to be a doormat or an easy target for picking or pushing, but they better, by God, not throw the first punch.

Today, a girl came to play and in preparation for our visitor, I asked, "What do you think you'd like to do when your friend comes over?"
"Well, I think she'd probably like to cook," The Short One said.
"Well, I'd like her to cook too ... and dinner would be nice," I replied. "But, what else?"
"What about Lego's?" The Short One suggested.
"Lego's sounds like a perfect choice," I said.
"Maybe exploring in the forest," he added.
"Now you're talkin."
"Oh, and she'll probably wanna play dolls ... so go get some," he suggested.

***

We rolled thru building and exploring pretty quickly. Decorated some cookies w/ some leftover ingredients I was looking to use up. And then, from the other room, I heard The Short One suggest a wrestling match. With the girl. (He even put on his karate belt ... earned at a birthday party ... he hasn't had a lick of a lesson.) I started to head in and put a quick stop to THAT, but decided to sit back and listen.
There was lots of grunting and groaning from The Short One.
There was a loud thud.
More groaning.
A random heeee-yaaaaa.
Thud.
And then.
"OK, let's do something else. I didn't realize you were so strong."
Even better than a girl coming to play is when that girl kicks your son's ass!
I LOVE it when that happens!!
Perfect!
And pretty.