Loonies in the cereal aisle

So William and I went shopping for groceries today at the local Kroger. We were contemplating my hastily-scrawled shopping list and methodically trawling up and down each aisle, when an older woman pushed her cart up next to ours. She beamed at William, happily swinging his legs from his seat in the cart, and said, "Oh what a beautiful little girl!"

I smiled nicely and said, "Actually, he's a boy. But thank you! It's the long eyelashes."

She said, "Oh, well, then. Those are beautiful eyes he has, so it was just easy to make the mistake." She smiled and waved at William and trotted down the canned vegetable aisle.

On the very next aisle, as I was trying to figure out where the heck the Kroger people stock the raisins (William's newest favorite snack), we came upon the same lady. "Hello, there, you are such a pretty girl!" she called to him and waved.

Huh. Had she not heard me when I said he was a boy? Not that it really matters, but it's been a really long time since anyone mistook William for a girl. He's a toddler now, and he really looks like a boy now. An amazingly handsome boy, sure, but a boy nonetheless. Plus, he was wearing navy-and-white striped shorts, a very plain, non-ruffly T-shirt with sailboats printed on the front, rugged brown sandals, and a denim hat. He definitely looked like a little boy. Which he is.

I didn't bother to correct her, but William looked up at me with a bemused expression. He knows he's not a girl. Pretty, maybe, but a girl? No way! Now this is the really weird part. We encountered that woman at least twice more and both times, she commented on what a pretty girl my son was.

And that, my friends, is why they invented the "smile and nod." So useful when you encounter dotty old ladies in the supermarket who insist that your grass-stained boy is a sweet little girl. I mean, heck. If I had a little girl, you really think I'd miss out on the opportunity to dress her up in girly little clothes? I mean, hello!

But hey, it got me thinking. So when it came time to make dinner, I donned my apron and I put one on William, too. What's good for the goose, etc. etc. He looked pretty good, I think.