Now that we are clear on the Valentine instructions (see yesterday), it was time to pick out Gianni’s Valentine cards. We took him to the party store and he headed straight for his favorite character: Dora the Explorer. Yeah, the cute little girl who speaks spanish and has “fringe” like mommy. My husband and I looked at each other and cracked up…what were we to do? Should we allow our son to get the pink girlie Valentine’s or should we push him more toward the Spiderman section?
I’m not proud to say this, but Gaetano put the Dora cards back and helped Gianni pick out some boy Valentine’s. What would you have done? I understand little G is only 16 months old, but would it have been appropriate to let him take Dora cards to his classmates? They were pink with glitter on them.
Who would have thought Valentine’s Day would bring such dilemmas. This wasn’t in the parenting books…
(P.S. Gianni wanted a Dora nightgown the other day when we were shopping. Should I have let him get that too??)
Maybe he just wanted to impress all the girls in his class with something THEY would like!
Leave my Little Munchin Nephew Alone! I LOVE him!
Mandy, you are probably right. He was trying to impress the ladies…he gets that from his dad.
Dayla, we totes love him too. Just not sure what move to make on this one…Advice Welcome!
We are potty training Henry and we were at the store and I was going to let him pick out his pull-ups. The boy choices were Cars or Toy story and Henry wanted the Disney princess pull-ups. I knew Brian wouldn’t like me bringing home princesses so I told him those weren’t one of his choices. He was a little disapointed
So funny. Glad to know I am not the only one going through this!
ok, i am only in the spit-up and change diaper part of this journey with kiddos, but could you in the future just give him two choices? like “would you like a grape or a apple sucker?” i know it wont fix the dorascapades at the party store, but in the future it might avoid the internal conflict for momma.
i may be a terd, but im pretty sure i wont let jack wear a nightgown. if he wants to cross dress when he is an adult well ill love him just the same. i dont think we need to get that party started as a kiddo. 
as for the dora thing though, maybe he does like dora because of the dark hair and that she looks like you. its like he wanted to send out a valentine with his mommy’s picture on it. i think that is very sweet.
Love the advice!
Thanks Meagan.
Here’s my thought…..NEVER take a 16 month old to a PARTY STORE!! Not being a mother, I just smell disaster! I’m with Meagan. I’m sure he LOVES Dora because you look like her!
give him boy stuff and take him wherever you want
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Psh; give him whatever appeals to him and has the best messages. (Bribery is a whole ‘nother issue, but yeah; we’re all guilty.) Do we get all up in arms about a girl liking Transformers or Star Wars or, at his age, Diego? Of course not. What’s the big deal?
When my son was younger, he LOVED Dora. Now he pretends never to have cared about her, but that’s because “it’s a baby show,” and nothing to do with her being a girl. (He makes the same claim of Dragon Tales and Diego.) When I bribed him with — I mean, TREATED him to — fast food meals, they’d ask if he was a boy or a girl. Boy equaled stupid ugly toy gun with awful message. Girl equaled Dora and Swiper smiling and hugging. I said he was a girl.
Loved your comment! I can’t wait to remind my son how he loved Dora when he is 7.
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