PeelerSheila

Thankyou for sharing your story.. Wow I could relate to much of this, the whole too much a girl to be included with the boys and vice versa, and even the Hot Wheels (mum stubbornly kept buying me dolls and I'd put them in the cupboard and refuse to play with them). I can see Miniest as NB, if anyone in the family is going to challenge binary thinking it'll be her! I try to tell my kids I love them no matter what quite often; my own mother's love was strictly conditional and transactional and I suffered greatly because of it. I think you're right too about her trying on a few different labels and identities as she grows, I can really see her doing that.

I did get the impression it was a bit of a coming out of sorts, but possibly the first time she's been asked the "what/how do you like to identify yourself in terms of gender" question. She has a very small group of friends, and from what she's said they're the kids who would identify differently from "the norm" and wouldn't be as surprised as me to hear her say it. We've talked in the past about how she's most likely described as gender fluid. I hadn't heard her call herself a boy before. You're right about nothing else changing though, I'm right by her side through this journey and yes, the dinner must still be made!

Thankyou that sounds like a worthwhile conversation to have with her and I will.

Thankyou I will do that🙏🏼

Ok so I'm having a bit of a rough time ATM. It's in relation to this comment I made yesterday.

Miniest and I have had a few chats, I've tried to be tolerant and accepting but I'm ashamed to say that the tolerance and understanding is not happening as easily on my end of things as it probably should be. I feel that just because the "girliest" girls in the class don't want to play their girly games with you for example, and just because you are not into wearing girly clothes etc., that doesn't make you any less of a girl. It certainly doesn't make you a boy. There is a lot of middle ground between the ultra glam feminine stereotypical examples of womanliness and the more masculine "tom boy" (to use an expression from my childhood) stereotypes of women. Most of us seem to be kind of in the middle somewhere. Some of us have girly nails or drive a girly car or have beautiful girly hair and clothes but also know how to put up a bookshelf or change a washer on a tap or are a mean kick of the footy. That's the beauty of having the freedom to pick and choose and be flexible with your identity and self perception. As you grow up you find your spot and get comfortable with yourself and learn who you are. I'm trying to explain this to Miniest but it's impossible for her to understand because she lacks the life experience to do so, but is pretty steadfast and stubborn about being called a boy. I've had to be honest; I'm sometimes tactful but unfortunately also can be pretty blunt. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and has feathers like a duck and looks like a duck then you can pretty well guess it's a bloody duck. My child looks like a girl, sounds like a girl and to me is a girl, just not a conventionaly girly one, and it's actually this aspect of her that I love the most. She is strongly individual, rebellious, outspoken and creative, hilarious and unique and beautiful. I'm glad and proud of her being my daughter with attributes like these, and I'm not adjusting well to this new thinking, it's making me feel old and tired and a bit lost. Thankyou for reading my rant, I had to put it out there to just.. get it out.

Love it when they cover their face with their little paws 😍

Sleeping cats are a thing of beauty 😍

Battling the CBF factor today. Have dragged myself out of bed, done some laundry and loaded and started the dishwasher. Now going to attempt grocery shopping.

It seemed to go okay. She was asked lots of questions about how she learns and what she likes and doesn't like and how she approaches certain problems. My daughter prattled along quite amiably 😆 There were no right or wrong answers, just getting to know you type things. We won't find out whether she's been accepted until later in the term. I've got my fingers and everything else that's crossable, crossed.

At the start she was asked if she prefers to be referred to as "she" or "he" (it's a pretty tolerant school) and I learnt that she doesn't identify as a girl, which was.. interesting. For a while I've thought of her as being kind of "androgynous" (I guess that was a typical word used when I was younger to describe the kind of person she is) but I didn't realise that she just doesn't identify as female. She's definitely not a "girly girl," but then neither was I really. I didn't really enjoy feminine dressing until I was in my late twenties maybe? 🤔 She doesn't correct me when I call her a girl, so I didn't really know how far her thinking/feeling went in that regard. I was not looking forward to the more physical aspects of her reaching puberty, but now I am absolutely dreading it. I'm trying to be accepting and progressive, but to me she is always my beautiful girl, clever and strong, a free spirit. I don't really know how to feel or what to think. Sorry for the lengthy response, I'm just a bit confused and trying to process it all.

Wow, my local Burgatory used to be great, now they're mid af and exy as. Sorry kids but I don't think we'll be doing that again. And they messed up the order. I order food maybe 2x a week from various places, and it would seem that at least one order a week is just wrong, everything from forgetting the dipping sauce which goes with an item, forgetting one whole meal from the order (everyone except one person gets food) or just putting totally the wrong items in the bag. It seems to be getting worse! The only person who gets my order right every time is the old Italian guy from the local old school pizza shop 🤌🏼

Ugh, I hate toe injuries. I hope you are not in pain for long. A toe injury + crappy weather = excellent excuse to cosy up and do nothing without feeling guilty!