Just a Bike Please

I have often struggled with the prevalence of pink, purple, and all things cute in the world of girls' fashion. Clothing itself isn't so bad. There are lots of options out there, and my girls wear dresses and pants and shirts that are feminine without being super girl-y. I must admit it is hard to avoid pink altogether, although honestly I don't object to pink itself. I just don't like all pink all the time.

Let me just, as an aside, mention that if my girls had long flowing hair they could wear boys clothes from head to toe and it would be fine. But since both of my girls display a remarkable lack of hair, if they are in anything that might even be construed as boyish they will get mistaken for boys. Which, for Clara at 18 months old is no big deal, but you start to feel bad when your 4-year-old asks "Why did that man call me a boy?"

But back to our shopping options. Outerwear and gear is where it gets tough. Take snow boots, for instance. There are girl boots and boy boots, and nothing that could possibly be mistaken as either. You might think you could buy a pair of navy or black boy boots that would be neutral, but you would be wrong because they have bulldozers all over them. Or the navy boots are splashed with orange flames (something about Navy+Orange just screams "I AM A BOY!!!)." The girl boots are purple with pink hearts, or pink with Hello Kitty on them, or some other pretty design.

Many things are like this. Bedding, coats, swimsuits, and shoes, just to name a few.

This weekend Bridges and I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking for a bike for Lee's birthday. Just a bike. Nothing fancy. You'd think that wouldn't be too hard. Now I must say that we were somewhat limited because we could only buy a bike with 12" rims since Lee is so tiny. But still, it shouldn't be that hard.

We were open to many colors: black, blue, orange, green, purple, red. Nearly anything except pink would have fit the bill. We could not find a plain simple bike. The boy bikes are just so boyish. The girl bikes are ridiculously frilly, and usually have white wheels (WHITE WHEELS?!?!).

This is what we ended up with:
It's not so bad, aside from the paw prints all over it and a cartoon of a kitty (because all girls love kitties) on the seat.

I'm honestly thinking of bringing it back for this but I just don't know. (BTW check out the girl version of the same Trek bike). I don't want to make my daughter feel ridiculous by making her ride a boy bike. But I also don't want to say "Here is a bike, and its defining characteristic is that it that is pretty. If you own this bike, you will be pretty. And that is what is most important."

No. Just a bike. Please.