Agree. I think it just comes down to personality.

My son is so affectionate and loving (compared to my daughters). He is a HUGE Mommy snuggler.

My son plays well independently (give him some lego or any toys and he is good to play on his own for hours!)

My son is the center of attention of his sisters, who fawn over him and never, ever fight with him (but the girls are constantly fighting)

Perhaps it’s a two gender / one gender thing? Or, perhaps, it’s as simple as every KID being unique and different, regardless of gender. 😘

Here’s what I’ve noticed: personality trumps plumbing. Every single time.

There are sensitive kids and bold kids. There are shy kids and kids who come alive around people. There are kids who love to do things with their hands and kids who love to move their bodies. There are kids who jump right in and kids who scope the situation first. There are kids who are tender and loving and there are kids who are not, particularly. Kids who are hyper-aware of social implications and kids who are entirely oblivious. Kids who love to help and kids who would rather gargle bees than do anything that might be considered ‘cleaning’.

All those kids come in both plumbing types. I have noticed no gender-related trend, seriously. What I do notice is a difference – sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant – in how adults react to certain kinds of behaviour in girls and boys.

I was in a shipping store once with my then 3-year-old daughter. Her hair was short (because life is too short to argue with a 3 year old about hair brushing) and she was wearing a gender-neutral red rain slicker. The line was long and she wandered over to a garbage can – the kind with a swinging lid. She flipped the lid over and amused herself with the resulting teeter-totter. A kind older woman standing in the line with me leaned over to say “You see what your son is doing? A girl would never do that. They’re so different.” She was not happy to discover that my ‘son’ was female.

So…you do you. I feel sorry for your friend’s daughter, who will grow up thinking that only girls can be sweet and loving. Hopefully (if that’s her thing) she can find a boy like your son and they can confuse your friend by being super happy together.