Though she be but little, she is fierce. ~William Shakespeare

It should not be a surprise to anyone that knows me even a little bit that my daughter is my world.  She was wanted for a very long time and she is loved more every day, if that is even possible.  I learn more about the person I want to be when I am around her more than any other person.  She, simply put, is amazing.

Raising kids is a hard job.  There are all kinds of things that make it hard.  For me, one of the things that I try to be so mindful of and second guess myself on all the time, is about any gender expectations that I have for Taelin.  When I first filled her closet with such tiny clothes before she was even born, I hardly filled it with pink. We tell her she can be anything she wants to be.  Right now the current answer to the "Want do you want to be when you grow up?" is a ballerina spaceman mama.  She said earlier today when we were at the zoo that she would like to add zookeeper to the list but she says, "I just don't think I would have time for all of that."

She has babies and kitchen sets and tool benches and cars.

I am sure that there are many things that we have done that give her the preconceived ideas of "girl roles" and "boy roles" and it is something I worry about all the time.  Especially when I look at what she absolutely loves:  pink, princesses, dress up, toenail polish, ballerinas.....the list goes on and on.

But then things like what happen today, happen and I suddenly I don't worry quite as much.

We were driving home from her first swimming lesson this morning when we drove past Willamette University.  She noticed on the field a bunch of kids and asked me what they were doing.  I glanced over and said they were playing football and that it kind of looked like a camp, kind of like the soccer camp that she started last week.  She asked me if she could do that and without even thinking I said, "Well, it is pretty much a boy game."

The most indignant response came from the backseat.  "Wait, what?  They only let boys play that game?" (you really had to be there to hear the disgust in her voice)

I said, "Well, you don't have to be a boy but it is a game that is mostly played by boys."
Her response, "Are there any girls out there right now?"

By then, we had passed the field and so I answered the question as best I could and said, "I didn't see any but we drove by it really fast."

She was quiet for a minute and then said, "Do you remember that Sophia the First where those other prince boys and princess girls kept laughing and making fun of Sophia and said that Sophia couldn't do the flying horse races because it was a prince thing not a princess thing but Sophia kept trying and trying no matter what?"

"Yes," I said.

"Well, if there are girls out playing at that football camp, do you think there are boys that are making fun of them and laughing at them?"

"Maybe.  I hope not," I said.  There was silence for a minute.

"Well, when I get big enough I am going to do that camp even though not many girls do.  And if there are any boys that make fun of me or laugh at me or any of my other friends that are girls because they don't think we can play that game because we are girls and not boys I will tell them to stop because it is unacceptable to tell someone they can't do something just because they are a girl or a boy."

"I love you Taelin," was all I could muster through my tight throat.

"I love you too, Mama."

Have I said how amazing my little girl is?  Oh, I have?  Good.