"Momily, is Dylan a boy's name?"

Emily looked up from her phone where she was typing out a quick text message to let Alex know they were on the way home from the park. "Who said it was?" she asked.

DJ shrugged. "Is it?"

"Well, it's not that simple..." she started to explain.

With an exasperated sigh, DJ stomped her foot. "Momily..."

Emily couldn't help but smile at her daughter's attitude, given that it was something she'd definitely come by honestly. "There's no such thing as a boy name or a girl name," she explained. "Just like there aren't boy colours and girl colours, right?"

"Right," DJ agreed. They walked along in silence for several minutes, hand in hand. Then, "Is Emily a girl's name or a boy name?"

"I thought we just agreed there's no such thing as girl's names or boy's names?" Emily replied.

Ignoring the reminder, DJ glanced up at her with curious eyes. "'Cause Emily is for girls, but you used to be a boy..."

They'd always been very open with DJ about her transition, though they had to simplify it for her age, and encouraged her to ask questions when she had them. They never wanted her to feel confused or uncomfortable or unsafe when it came to sex and gender.

"Well, Emily wasn't always my name," she explained, "When I was born my mom and dad named me Elijah. When I transitioned, I chose a new name, one that fit me better."

"Oh." Another long silence. "I like Emily," she declared at length.

Raising a brow, she asked, "Why?"

"'Cause you're Emily," she said simply.

"Do you like your name?" Emily asked, suddenly curious.

DJ thought on that for a long time – so long that Emily wasn't entirely sure she was going to answer at all. At length, she said, "It's okay... but I like Clover better."

"Clover?" Emily repeated. "That's a pretty name. Where did you hear it?" DJ shrugged again, but didn't accompany it with a verbal reply. "Tell you what..." Emily continued, "We can try it out and if you like it, maybe we'll change it. Okay?"

She was only four, of course, so they weren't going to do anything on the whims of a preschooler, but Emily wanted to make sure that she felt she had a voice in matters concerning her autonomy and if she wanted to change names as frequently as her underwear, that was a small price to pay for having a well-adjusted and happy daughter.