loves pink, has me paint his finger nails and toes blue, dress up in fairy costumes, and is obsessed with Dora. He wears his sister's Dora hand me downs, including her Dora sneakers. So cute. I have no qualms about it. I say WHATEVER to anyone who worries about it. He'll be embarassed, no doubt, but I'm not worried about that, either. I'm embarassed looking at the 1980s attire I chose for myself as a young adult!!!

Good for you for letting him think pink! It's just a stupid color, after all. Indeed, I believe prior to 1920, pink was the 'boy' color. Boy babies were wrapped in pink blankets, girls in white.

I say, let it go. Much better for him to explore what he likes than to feel stifled. It's a color and it sounds like you've managed to combine allowing your son to explore his style with keeping to practicals (ie, not buying a whole new wardrobe when they're growing so quickly!). Sounds fine to me.

I don't think anyone would have a problem with a little girl who loved blue and wearing truck/sports-themed clothing; the same should be true in reverse for boys!

And kudos to your DH, too, because alot of men would not be okay with their son wearing a pink girls' shirt!

My son used to really enjoy walking around in my shoes [mostly mules] and it never mattered a bit to my DH [who had loved to wear his mom's hats when he was a young boy]. But I have known so many moms whose husbands completely freaked out if their son put on any of mom's accessories or high-heeled shoes. It seems nuts to me to react that way, but apparently it's much more common [at least where I live] than the reaction my husband has.

I think you're right on with this.

There is this awesome little boy in my daughter's preschool class who wears frilly dresses.  I hope neither of them ever feel like they have to change.

Until about 75 years ago, it was pretty common for boys to wear dresses until they could walk.  Sounds practical to me...easier to change the diaper.  

On another note, I was the first grandchild on my mother's side, and my grandma made a beautiful baptism gown that could have a pink ribbon for a girl & a blue ribbon for a boy.  I wore it, my brothers wore it, and a few of our cousins.  When my brother had his first child, a boy, he didn't want his boy in a "dress," so my nephew wore a little shorts outfit.  I thought it was so ridiculous; I can't believe how macho my brother thinks he is.  We had DS baptized while he was in the hospital, but when he came home, I dressed him in the gown just to take pictures.  For me, tradition trumps gender oppression!

There seems to be lots of guy's clothes in pink now or with pink undertones.

I think he will move on to something else himself, based on his age (he's 2 right?).

I saw an interesting Dr. Phil once that said this about letting boys wear girl's clothes, not sure if I agree:

Robby's 5-year-old son loves to play with Barbies and prefers wearing girl's clothes. She asks Dr. Phil how to deal with this behavior, which she doesn't think is normal.

"There are developmental stages in kids and it is not unusual, particularly for young boys, to experiment and get stuck on certain stimulus items," says Dr. Phil. Particularly because the little boy has two older sisters, he says, it's not unusual.

"This is not a precursor to your son being gay," explains Dr. Phil. He'll know that in time, but this is not an indication of his sexual orientation.

Dr. Phil tells Robby that she has a job to do: "Direct your son in an unconfusing way. Don't buy him Barbie dolls or girl's clothes. You don't want to do things that seem to support the confusion at this stage of the game ... Take the girl things away, and buy him boy toys."

Most importantly, he tells Robby, "Support him in what he's doing, but not in the girl things."

Have you read the Pinky and Rex series of books?  Pinky is a boy who likes to wear pink, and Rex is his (girl) neighbor across the street.  They're good, your son might like them.

Kids don't know something's "different."  We put it in their heads.  My friend has a 2.5-year-old daughter.  Up until now, she never played with dolls or stuffed toys.  She loved the cat, looking at any animals, sticks, leaves, rocks, bugs.  We figured she was taking after her botanist father. This suited them just fine.  They had some pink and/or frilly things for her, but mostly just dressed her in cute, comfortable clothes she could play in.

Last week my friend put on a skirt for work and DD said, "You're wearing a dress; you're a princess."  The next day DD wanted a mirror and a rose like Belle.  All of a sudden, it's full-blown princess frenzy.  She's seen the Disney videos and probably has girls in daycare who are into princesses, but my friend is really surprised to see it.  But I bet it's temporary.  How else do people figure things out unless they're willing to try different stuff?  Kids are great at that; we adults forget it.

I think there's something about that color that makes kids just gravitate toward it.  My daughter is all about pink, though she only has a few pink items, and it's funny watching my son get into her stuff and just get all the pink stuff.  The other day, my husband when to go check on the baby.  He went into the room to see the boy with Ilia's pink purse, skirt, perfume bottle and pencil case, wearing a pair of her pink underwear on his head.   DH started singing, "Pretty in pink, isn't heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

Mr. Burns: "Ah Smithers, these color cameras are paying off already..."

I want to add that when I write words to songs in my elementary classes both boys and girls go crazy whenever I use the pink marker.  Weird.  It can even be a song they're not too thrilled about it-they get excited when I write the words in pink.  I have no explanation for it.

I'm not sure I would dress my son in girl's clothes if he expressed an interest in pink. In this case, think I would probably go your mom's route and buy boy clothes that are pink only because I wouldn't want him to get mad at me when he's older.  Kids can be very cruel and I would also be afraid of him getting picked on if his future friends saw old pictures or something.  That's my two cents.  You do what works for you.

I'm talking about men's dress shirts that are light pink, not anything frilly or with flowers.  But I've always felt like it was a very attractive colour for a man to wear, and that it represented a secure masculinity.

-Alan