One month and counting

That's right, Adriel is one month old today -- on the verge of leaving newborn-hood and entering plain ol' baby-hood.

Having a girl really is different. I'm amazed at the ways in which my interactions with her are different from what they ever were with Ezra. A (gay) friend at work was talking about some friends of his who are new parents and mentioned how much they were "gender-ifying" their daughter -- referring specifically to their dressing her entirely in pink, etc. We are certainly gender-ifying Adriel -- yes, with clothing (although that's largely Melissa's domain), but far more subtlely and deeply in our interactions with her.

The thing is, I can't even necessarily put my finger on what those ways are in which I treat her differently -- it really is such a subconscious thing. I think this degree of subconsciousness is both good and bad -- good in that I believe boys and girls should be raised differently and the subconsciousness ensures that this is the case whether I'm focusing on it or not. But it can be bad too, in that if I am going to raise them differently, it should be intentionally so rather than randomly (and possibly inconsistently) so. Better that I sould be aware of the things I want to reinforce rather than just playing off of my instincts 100% and possibly ending up treating one or the other unfairly.