So Braeden began dressing in more feminine clothing, though we did not yet allow dresses. It was around Christmas time when he was telling the kids at school about being a girl, and a little girl in his class told him that Santa wouldn’t come to our house because Santa wanted him to be a boy. He was so upset. Crying thinking that Santa wasn’t going to come. Oh, my heart just broke. Internally, I was screaming as she told me. I wanted to go yell at this child. But, maturity prevailed and I was able to keep my calm while I got the whole story and emailed the principal. (The principal at this elementary school is spectacular. I honestly cannot day enough good things about how supportive he is. Thank you Mr. G for all you have done.) The principal talked to the kids involved, and resolved the issue beautifully. It was at this point that I told the school about Braeden being transgender, and us looking into getting counseling etc. I knew we needed to start the counseling, but I wasn’t sure where to look. I wound up reaching out to a good friend of mine who is an openly gay pastor, and who was very supportive, and was able to point us in the direction of the Gender Health Center. I called the center not knowing what to expect. I explained that I had a son wanting to be a daughter and that I was supportive, but I didn’t have any idea how to help her. The woman, Jasmine, was so kind and supportive. She listened to me vent and being pregnant with twins at the time, I was extremely hormonal so I wound up kind of unloading on her LOL. “Ask her what name she wants to be called, and if she wants to be referred to as she/her. Start trying it out at home and see how it feels for her.” That piece of advice was monumental for us. After asking Braeden, he said he would prefer to be called a female name, and use the female pronouns she/her. We agreed to support her in this, and we began discussing names as a family. We went through lists of names, and she finally decided on Iris. Being that it was now Christmas time, we asked that the family address gifts to Iris, and use feminine pronouns. Now, I hated the name Iris, it just isn’t my taste at all. But, I knew supporting my child was more important than my preference on her name. So iris it was. I figured maybe it would grow on me. And she seemed to love it. The name Iris lasted for about a month when she fell in love with the name Olivia. We hadn’t loved Iris – the name – but Liv seemed to fit perfectly. Olivia decided that she wanted her name to be Olivia Noelle. It was the prettiest thing she’d ever heard. It’s about a year later now, and the name is perfect. She also has the nicknames Liv and Livie that just fit her sparkling little personality.