Sunglasses, shoes, football and gender identity

On Monday, Amanda was sorting through some of Jadyn’s clothes to see what we wanted to keep, discard or pass along to another family.

We’ve had an ongoing challenge to teach Jadyn how to wear things on her head – hats, sunglasses, etc. The photo story involving the sunglasses and shoes took place over about 10 minutes.

The story about the football happened later in the evening and comes later in this post.

Sunglasses and shoes

Mommy starts the experiment.

The struggle ensues.

Mommy sets the example.

The shades didn't stay on long.

Jadyn moves on to something much more interesting … A bin full of shoes! Notice the forgotten sunglasses over her left shoulder. This is more like it. Definitely a girl thing!

We tried a hat, but – trust us – it didn’t stay on long either.

Football

Later in the evening, Daddy was watching Jadyn so Mommy could keep working on the assortment of things in the living room.
For those of you who’ve never been to the Deep South in the United States, we take our football very seriously – especially college football. It is a “water cooler” topic in almost every Southern state on Mondays and throughout the week in the late summer and early fall.
Daddy is a University of Alabama graduate. Alabama is a school rich with football tradition. The late Paul “Bear” Bryant was its legendary coach for many of the last 50 years. He left some big shoes to fill when he passed away in 1983 after his retirement weeks earlier with a record 322 wins, the most of anyone at the time in Division I-A.
In 2003, Florida State University’s Bobby Bowden overtook the Bear’s record and currently stands at 351 wins.
On Monday night, Daddy decided to give Jadyn a “structured” football lesson. It basically involved letting her hold a toy ball emblazoned with Alabama’s long-time logo and years the team won the Southeastern Conference title up through 1992.
That’s the year Alabama won its most recent national title – its 12^th overall, directed by Gene Stallings, a player and coach under the Bear.
Without further delay, here is a photo from the formal football “introduction.” It kind of says it all:

Gender identity

All that being said, we think Jadyn’s gender identity got a further boost from the attraction to the shoes. However, her broader understanding of the culture in which she currently resides and its love of football also got some support.