Boy stuff vs. Girl stuff

I look at my dirty boys who are perfectly content wearing no shirt, no shoes, and playing in the dirt. I think, they're such BOYS. What am I going to do with a girl?!

But then I think, I'm the one who encourages boy things. I'm the one who teaches them how to saw with their whole bodies if their arms get tired, how to use the entire length of the saw, how to use leverage and work with the tools instead of against them,

These pics are from one first warm afternoon where we ate dinner outside. But it turned cold so the fire pit was perfect after the destroying of the picnic table - which turned into a dirt pit since the grass was already a bit sparse under it.

  how to crack open a coconut,

  how to hammer a nail into a 2x4,

that you need either good gripping shoes or no shoes to climb trees, and realize that these BOY things aren't really boy things at all. My dad taught me how to hold a hammer and how to nail with at most 3 taps, preferably with two, one to hold it steady so you can get the other hand out of the way, then one to solidly hammer it in with one solid flowing hit. I'm a girl, why would he teach me those things? Because they're life lessons and parents teach their kids things despite gender. I hope my girl plays in the dirt (with a shirt on) right along side her big brothers. I won't be teaching her everything though, Tyler has vowed to teach her how to throw a ball and how to run with his arms pumping like "this" he demonstrates. 

I also teach them things that could be considered girly I guess. Egg decorating, 

 corn shucking,

sewing bean bags for teacher gifts,

making funnels to make filling the bags easier, 

 seam ripping,

 turning the fabric right side out,

 and giving them the confidence to go sew by themselves.

Then some things I do not teach them. And hope they will not teach my girl. (Although I'm already not looking forward to figuring out how to pee quickly when there is not a bathroom to be found. I decided that's the worst part about having a girl, or what will be the worst part. Everything else seems pretty good!)