Gender Differences

So there's all this controversy over gender behavior. Does a boy prefer trucks to dolls on instinct or does he prefer them because those are the toys he's given? Every mom has her own opinion, and, as the mother of two boys, I can see both sides. Up until Nugget turned 1 I would have argued that his toys weren't gender specific at all, but when we went to older children's homes he gravitated towards the trucks and cars on what seemed to be instinct. After he turned one I can say that his toy selections changed. No longer was he given alphabet magnets for the frig or balls that swirled around and around while lighting up. His gifts started becoming more 'boy' specific if you will. Basketball hoops, golf clubs, baseball stands, etc. flooded under the colored wrapping paper and now dominate my living room. So is he surrounded with 'boy' toys? Yes. But did I do this intentionally? No. As a matter of fact my son loves to imitate me and play in his friends toy kitchen 'cook it'(aka cooking)dinner and cookies.
But something that caught me off guard yesterday happened over lunch. While Nugget and his friend (a boy) were sitting at the kitchen table eating chicken nuggets I noticed a strange grunting noise followed by and uproar of laughter. When I turned away from Meatball, my 7 month old who was currently spitting out the green beans I was struggling to feed him, to watch what my 2 year old and his friend were doing I caught them in the middle of a 'pooping' act. The two boys were taking turns scrunching their face as hard as they could and pretending to poop. Each poop act followed with a roar of hysterical laughter from the boys. Here's where I wondered about gender differences. I surely didn't teach my 2 year old to think pooping was funny, and as a girl I thought this behavior was gross and something I couldn't relate to. I didn't stop it however. I let them grunt and giggle until their little bodies died down in exhaustion and I put them down for their afternoon nap. But as I walked away from the room I heard Nugget call out to his friend, "I pooped." A few more giggles were heard from behind the door and then silence fell for a few hours. But I have to wonder, would a girl their age have thought this 'pooping' act was funny, or like the gender differences every one likes to discuss, would it just be a 'boy' thing. Hmm. I might have to test this one out.