Owen noticed the Spring 2006 issue of Brain, Child today—the one with a robot on the cover.

“Look, Mama! It’s a robot! A GIRL robot!” he cried, pointing excitedly at the photo.

“Yeah?” I asked, interested. “How can you tell it’s a girl?”

“It is a girl,” he explained. “It just IS.”

“But how can you TELL it’s a girl? Which part is the girl part?” I pressed. (And no, I was not hoping for a robot anatomy lesson, though when you think about it, there ARE no robot girl parts. I hope.)

He furrowed his three-year-old brow and considered the robot: its pink head with springs for hair, its cranks for earrings, its breasts made of what look like buttons, its skirt and apron, its pink arms and legs. It also has red feet.

“Here,” he pointed. “This is the girl part.” He tapped the magazine with his plump little index finger.

“It’s the shoes.”

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