with topping you get 2 tops that come out, a fim basicaly 4 tops. It could be the stipules your seeing. if they almost resemble a single tiny blade that comes next to the new shoot near a leaf base. It is possible to have preflowers at a young age, but being mature enough to make out male or fem is a pain sometimes and better off waiting. Without flowering pre-sex male/female flowers usually do not appear until after the 6th node. usually the plant breaks away from its V leaf pattern and starts to become staggered when your plant has matured.
- = stem < or / \ = leafs.
------<--- if your leafs are matched on both sides of the stem it is most likely not old enought to have matured (this is not always the case, mature plants can keep & revert back to matching leafs per side)
______/
\
is more of what a mature plants leaf structure looks like.
but to each his own 
