S is a pretty androgenous kid. He's usually dressed in unisex colours. He's often mistaken for a girl...long curly hair, long lashes and rosebud lips. But even when he's dressed in blue and clothes that scream 'boy', people still think he's a girl. And that's fine...he's just a baby.
Babyhood/toddlerhood is a time of growing, exploring, playing. When a child is digging in the sand, hugging a bear or bouncing to a tune, does it really matter if a child is a girl or a boy? Children are all too soon labelled by their gender and they are treated differently and expected to act differently. As open minded we can be and aware about it, it's a societal/cultural phenomenon that is difficult to overcome.
I don't often refer to S as our son--I refer to him as our child. I don't know why. It's more a reflex but maybe it's a subconscious acknowledgement to the androgeny of young childhood. When he was born, our midwives handed him to us without saying, "It's a boy!" They wanted to give us the opportunity to enjoy our baby in the only moment in his/her life where he/she would not be gender labelled.
So good bye curly locks, good bye androgeny.