Seen (and Bought)

As of April 8th at 2:06 AM, I have another niece. CMB was 8 pounds, 2 ounces at birth, and she's growing fast. The onesie baby-suits my sister got as gifts are either too small or too big at this point, so I want to make a few. I found a good size onesie (for a baby up to 16 pounds) at a local dollar store for a great price because it was slightly damaged. I can reverse-engineer a pattern from it. So, it does not matter what the print on the original looks like. But here's what it looks like:


Image description: a close-up photo of a baby onesie with a print of puppies playing baseball interspersed with stars in a patriotic color-story of blue, white, and red.


The package declaimed "BOY" on the label, and it's a good thing: how else would I have known? The "GIRL"-declaiming onesies had pink ballet shoes, tiaras, and the word "Princess" in curlicue script all over them. Just so we know for sure.

It was enough to make me burst into song (with apologies to Barbra Streisand):

Puppies
Puppies who play baseball
Are the luckiest puppies in the world

We’re humans gendering our children
We sow cultural fears of all sorts
By freighting these dogs and ball-sports
With our forced projections of nature

Puppies
Are very special symbols
They’re the manliest symbols in the world
With one puppy
One puppy who plays baseball
A feeling deep in your shirt says
You’re a jock not a flirt

No more toe-shoes and pink
Just think a mere puppy who plays baseball
Puppies who play baseball
Keep your boychildren manly: not like girls

(context: this YouTube clip of Barbra Streisand singing "People" in the film Funny Girl--lyrics below the fold in most browsers)

(music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill)

People
People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world

We're children needing other children
And yet, letting our grown up pride
Hide all the need inside
Acting more like children than children

Lovers
Are very special people
They're the luckiest people in the world
With one person
One very special person
A feeling deep in your soul says
You were half, now you're whole

No more hunger and thirst
But first be a person who needs people
People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world