Nephew has an older sister. Niece was having her nails painted one day by her mother. Nephew, who should have been playing nearby, did NOT continue to play when he saw what his mom and sister were doing. He wanted his nails painted, too. Nephew bawled until his mother painted both his fingernails and his toenails.
I saw Nephew very recently after he got his nails painted. My reaction was: "Wow, buddy! Your nails are green! That's cool!"
He grinned and showed them off to me.
I told him, "They look lovely. Very pretty."
My "normal" 12-year-old brother walked by and informed us (very loudly) that Nephew's nail-decorating desires were weird.
But Nephew didn't care! The next thing he did was show me his new baby doll. Well, technically it wasn't new. It was one of Niece's that she had donated to him, due to the fact that she has her own favorite doll (and a favorite truck and a favorite toy dinosaur and a favorite toy dragon), so she really didn't miss her old doll.
I was surprised to find how careful Nephew was with his doll. He would grab her and hug her, but he would make sure that her head was up before doing so. He would carefully lay her on the floor and pretend to change her diaper. He would cradle her in his arms and feed her from a toy bottle. And he absolutely beamed when I told him what a wonderful daddy he was. Not even Youngest Little Brother again informing us that Nephew's enthusiasm for a doll was weird could make Nephew any less thrilled.
And so, Nephew, I salute you. May you forever disregard gender binaries and enjoy whatever the f*ck you enjoy!
