Thank you, Buffy, that's exactly the thing.
That's reassuring what you've written. I'm fortunate in that I have a physics degree, and volunteer to teach maths in his school. I'm also a 'tinkerer', so I can fix bikes, plugs, electricals, do woodwork and metalwork, so he sees me doing everything. In fact, the one thing he sees me hating and struggling with is cooking.
He himself is 'atypical', hates football, does ballet, loves music, has long 'surf dude' hair, loves music and drama, writes endless stories, but also loves minecraft, aeroplanes, cars and race drivers, speed and loud silliness. I find him a fascinating mix, but he is aware himself that he's 'different' to the idea of 'a boy', and he struggles with that too. I always feel I struggle to set the tone right. I've sat on expressions like 'that's for girls', and he does fairly well at carving his own path, but it's me that struggles, because there isn't an existing role model in my head for where he's going. Just, 'not that kind of boy', anti-patriarchy if you like, is a bit of a negative target. But I have no positive ones in my life to use!
I hope you can see what I'm struggling to say, sorry if all the 'typical boy' stuff is not ok here.