"That's a wild baby. And she has boy hair."

...wise and honest commentary from four-year-old Oscar who was watching Audrey pull down a whole shelf of board books at his house. He is right, on both points. Her hair is growing straight down into her eyes right now and we aren't sure what to do about it. We'd like to just let it grow but she won't tolerate barrettes. Or rather, she loves barrettes-- as chewy snacks.

This hair-cut issue is such a loaded topic. I remember being mistaken for a boy when I was little because I had close-cropped "pixie" hair and much as I would like to be impervious to all of that gender nonsense now, I'm slightly annoyed to be told what a handsome boy Audrey is, just because she's wearing overalls. And people are so mortified if you answer a question like "What's his name?" by saying, "Actually her name is Audrey," like I'm going to be terribly offended by their mistake. From now on, I'm eliminating pronouns from my speech when I say anything at all about a baby. I'm just going to say, "Your child looks so happy. And you appear well-rested and neatly dressed. If there's any spit-up on your sweater, I certainly can't see it!"

That's all a new mother really wants to hear anyway, if I may speak for us all.