"When Can I be a boy?"

Very girly at the kids museum last weekend.

Two days in a row now, Maya has asked the same question.

"When will I be a boy?"

And she asks in the same place, the bathroom, as she is going potty. Today, we were in the bathroom at the pool.

"You won't become a boy, Maya," I say each time.

"But I want to be a boy," she whines.

I already know the answer but I ask why anyway.

"So I can do this," she says and circles her arm to her back. "So I can go potty like Guillermo and Papa."

"Boys can go potty standing up, but girls can't," I say and am met with a pout.

But today, I whispered to her: "You are so lucky you are a girl. Girls are as strong as boys and as smart as boys, but girls get to wear twirly dresses and boys don't," I say.

She didn't answer, but she must have heard me.

We finished up and I walked a little ahead of her to the door. When I turned around I saw her admiring the skirt on the bottom half of her bikini. And, she was grinning.