# I think my Son thinks he's a Girl...



## HavingAGirl89 (May 10, 2010)

This is my first shot at parenting, so I'm not exactly sure what I should expect and how I should react to this. My 1 year old son has lately been going through a phase where he only wants to wearing dresses and he even goes through my makeup when I'm not looking. I've turn my eyes from him for 10 minutes and when I look back he's changed into the dress of one of the dolls in the room and has my lipstick on his lips!

Is this something i should be worried about?


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

Not at age one. Makeup is fun. It's like art.

Really, I promise. He will have so many stages that if you don't take a lot of pictures of this one, you'll forget about it in a few years.


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## Bokonon (Aug 29, 2009)

Wow, he's 1 and he can dress himself and put on lipstick? My 1yo would probably just eat the lipstick!


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## WindyCityMom (Aug 17, 2009)

Yeah, what the others said. He's only 1 and he's just exploring the world as any other 1yo would







Children learn alot through imitation, and he's just imitating mommy.


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## treeoflife3 (Nov 14, 2008)

I am guessing he is just curious about the world around him and trying things on since he is only one and probably doesn't know what 'boy' and 'girl' is but I've thought since my daughter was all of a couple months that someday she might tell me she is a he. I sometimes forget she is a girl and picture a boy... I also thought I was having a boy at first when I was pregnant. I changed my mind shortly before finding out although part of that was just WANTING to have a girl. for now I just have fun putting her in dresses... I think you should have fun getting blackmail pictures for now


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## MusicianDad (Jun 24, 2008)

A 1 year old has no concept of gender what so ever. DS _loves_ dressing up, this includes dresses his big sister made for him because he wanted them.

It's perfectly normal.


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## BarnMomma (Dec 12, 2008)

My son wants to do whatever mommy does....so that for a while meant putting curlers in his hair and attempting to use makeup...now it means insisting to sit to go pee pee and wearing a headband. It's nothing to be concerned about. It's just exploration and copying mommy.


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## mistymama (Oct 12, 2004)

I'm impressed your one year old can put a dress on?! What coordination!

Ds used to love to walk around in my high heels with a bra on when he was around 2.







I have some great blackmail photos, and he couldn't be any more of a "boy" now.

I wouldn't think twice about it.


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## ~Charlie's~Angel~ (Mar 17, 2008)

My sons like to play with purses and put on Mamas shoes and put on Meemas big ole HOOP earrings (just around their ears of course). They also like race cars and dump trucks and little baby dolls. They are 1.5 and 2.5.

Seriously, I wouldnt worry about it.


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## Apple Girl (Nov 2, 2007)

Add me to the pile who think it's impressive that your 1 year old can put on a dress and lipstick. My nearly-2 year old doesn't dress by himself yet.


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## GoBecGo (May 14, 2008)

Wow, when my nearly-4-yo encountered lipstick she put it all over her face, literally, plus on the mirrors, walls and carpet in my room. Definitely not on her mouth









Equally, she still can't put dresses on at 4, unless it's a very simple t-shirt style she can pull over her head.

I'm impressed by your son's dexterity, and not at all concerned about his gender identity. Though i also think that if he was 5 and thought he was a girl there's not a lot you can do about it - he is who he is, you get to discover who that is, but not dictate it.


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## Stephenie (Oct 11, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mistymama* 
I'm impressed your one year old can put a dress on?! What coordination!
.

I know! My 13 month old couldn't come close!

There is no reason to worry... he's a baby. He's just copying mama.


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## Bokonon (Aug 29, 2009)

I would also want to caution you that it is probably not safe to take your eyes off a 1 year old who has the coordination to take dresses off dolls and put them on himself. 10 minutes is a long time for any 1 year old to be unsupervised, especially one so advanced!


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## limabean (Aug 31, 2005)

He's imitating mama.









Would you be concerned that your toddler girl thought she was a boy if she were playing with toy trucks and tools?


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## mama2toomany (Oct 17, 2005)

My son was just like that lol now he is 11 and he is the only one that is sure he is a boy lol

My daughter refuses to call him a boy, because she loves him so much and boys are yucky, so she says ethan is a girl.. I say No, hes a boy and she says "but he has a beautiful voice". totally logical to a 5 year old little girl lol


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MusicianDad* 
A 1 year old has no concept of gender what so ever. DS _loves_ dressing up, this includes dresses his big sister made for him because he wanted them.

It's perfectly normal.

This.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mistymama* 
I'm impressed your one year old can put a dress on?! What coordination!

Also this.


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## APToddlerMama (Oct 5, 2009)

My two year old DS plays with dolls, puts on make-up, carries a purse, put on my bra and started saying milk (breastmilk), etc. He also plays with trucks and tools. I think this is totally normal. Your son just wants to be like his mama!


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## sleepingbeauty (Sep 1, 2007)

Whoa! That's really early. Z is 1.5 and she can barely keep her drawings on a sheet of paper, nevermind something as small as a mouth! W can dress herself in T-shirt styled dresses...but she's 3.


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

I have removed several posts from this thread. Please remember that casting suspicion on other members is against MDC's User Agreement. If you have a concern, please report the thread.


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## Purple*Lotus (Nov 1, 2007)

I teach 4 and 5 year olds and my boys wear dresses when they play dress up all the time. Then in the afternoon they play with the trains. It is normal, IMO


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## Purple*Lotus (Nov 1, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *GoBecGo* 
Wow, when my nearly-4-yo encountered lipstick she put it all over her face, literally, plus on the mirrors, walls and carpet in my room. Definitely not on her mouth









My Mom came out from the shower when I was 4 to find my face covered in her red lipstick


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## limabean (Aug 31, 2005)

I think I would be way more concerned if a newly 1-year-old was aware of gender issues associated with dresses and lipstick and proclaimed that they were "for girls."


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *limabean* 
I think I would be way more concerned if a newly 1-year-old was aware of gender issues associated with dresses and lipstick and proclaimed that they were "for girls."









I'd be shocked. I had a nine month old daycare girl who would yank things our of our hands and shreak "MINE!". (one time she carjaked a four year old before she could even walk)

We were torn between being completely impressed, and offended. LOL.


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## Polliwog (Oct 29, 2006)

I've never met a 12-month-old who had the dexterity to do either one. I definitely wouldn't leave him unattended. At all.


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## peaceful_mama (May 27, 2005)

eh, I think my 1 yr. old 18 mos. could manage to throw a dress of mine over his head if he got ahold of it....he'd be most likely to start playing peekaboo


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## Happiestever (May 13, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bokonon* 
Wow, he's 1 and he can dress himself and put on lipstick? My 1yo would probably just eat the lipstick!

WSS! My son who is 3 likes to do the same thing, doesn't worry me at all. I figure that's the life of growing up with females.


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## Polliwog (Oct 29, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *peaceful_mama* 
eh, I think my 1 yr. old 18 mos. could manage to throw a dress of mine over his head if he got ahold of it....he'd be most likely to start playing peekaboo









There's a huge developmental difference between an twelve-month-old and an eighteen-month-old.


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## childsplay (Sep 4, 2007)

He's one. He doesn't think he's anything other than his name. At his age he doesn't know he's a boy so really, it doesn't matter.
When you say he dresses himself I'm assuming he jams some garment on his head until it sticks and manages to jam a foot into a hat? That's what goes down with the three one year olds in my house anyway.
He's just putting the dresses on because their there. Same goes for the lipstick.
One thing I'd be very careful of is strangling on the doll clothes. I had one little guy manage to work a tied bonnet over his massive one year old head so it was hanging off the back of his neck. He was fine because I was right there, but I've since ditched the dress up clothes.


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## AFWife (Aug 30, 2008)

Just jumping in...

My little brother used to BEG our mom to paint his finger and toe nails...because she and I were doing ours.

He's a rough and tough Marine now...not the slightest bit girlie.

Your son probably just wants to be included.

and I'm also impressed that he can put a dress and lipstick on...I get excited when my son puts something in a container


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## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

She didn't say he was 12 months. She said he was one. So, that's somewhere between 12-24 months. Although, if he were 22 months, I'd say "almost two". But, she also didn't say where he put the lipstick, and if it looked good. He put it on himself.

If he did a good job and looked pretty good at 12 months, I'd get the kid an agent.

My daughter could undress and redress herself before 18 months. She could manage buttons by 18 months. TWICE in public, she stripped down to her rainboots (it never rains here) before I noticed her, and she was standing right next to me. Once at about 12 months, she came out of my master bedroom wearing a whole drawer full of my panties around her neck.

Never understimate a quiet toddler.


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## Bokonon (Aug 29, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nextcommercial* 
She didn't say he was 12 months. She said he was one. So, that's somewhere between 12-24 months. Although, if he were 22 months, I'd say "almost two". But, she also didn't say where he put the lipstick, and if it looked good. He put it on himself.

If he did a good job and looked pretty good at 12 months, I'd get the kid an agent.

My daughter could undress and redress herself before 18 months. She could manage buttons by 18 months. TWICE in public, she stripped down to her rainboots (it never rains here) before I noticed her, and she was standing right next to me. Once at about 12 months, she came out of my master bedroom wearing a whole drawer full of my panties around her neck.

Never understimate a quiet toddler.

I think she posted in another thread that he just turned 1.


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## ~Charlie's~Angel~ (Mar 17, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nextcommercial* 
Never understimate a quiet toddler.

Usually when its like this for more then a minute, I go running into the living room holding my breath, terrified of what I may find.


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## AllyRae (Dec 10, 2003)

If you're his primary caregiver, of course he will try to imitate you--it's all he knows! My DS used to try to put on my makeup when he was 1 too. And now at 6, he is a star wars obsessed rough and tumble boy who would rather eat dirt than to do anything even remotely "girly".







:


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## Polliwog (Oct 29, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bokonon* 
I think she posted in another thread that he just turned 1.

Exactly. And I've worked as an Early Childhood Education Specialist and very few children have the manual dexterity to put on clothes at that age. Lipstick, on the other hand, is pretty easy to squish.


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

Don't worry about it. And be prepared to defend him from ignorant adults in his life who might tease or even be ruder about it. For Easter this year, I bought my girls pretty little hair things to wear. Anyway, DS's feelings were badly hurt, that his sisters got pretty things for their hair and he didn't. He just felt left out of something that everybody else seemed to be enjoying. So I made him a little ponytail, and spent the whole day glaring at his idiot uncles and cousins to make sure they knew not to say ONE SINGLE WORD.

He's one. He has no clue what boys and girls are, and that's the way it should be.


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## Sharlla (Jul 14, 2005)

if you arennt comfortable with him wearing dresses and makeup you dont have to put it on him when he asks for it. although i dont think its going to do any harm if you do
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

My 14mo can put things on, especially if they are big, and she could handle lipstick, I'm certain. (No, not exactly on her mouth, but it'd be obvious that's what she was trying to do.)

Just sayin'.


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## emmalizz (Apr 14, 2009)

,


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