The Favorite

There is no denying the fact that almost all of the nieces and nephews prefer Eric over me. And who can blame them? He is such a fun guy! Kids adore him. He lets them walk on his back. He reads them Calvin and Hobbes. He loves to play hide and go seek. He makes up fantastic stories about hammerhead sharks that eat entire ships. He builds bridges and towers out of blocks, legos, dominoes, cards, and anything he can find. In fact, he'll spend like an hour building something like this with one idea in mind - to let the kids knock it over. Who wouldn't love that? He loves to teach kids new games, incite rebellion and tease kids good-naturedly. He sets up entire fields of army guys for the sole purpose of shooting the army guys down with rubber bands. This is just how awesome and fun Eric is.

I have resigned myself to the fact that I am just not as fun as he is. I'm okay with that. He is awesome and fun, and I have my limits. I will be the ogre mom, and he will be the fun dad. That Eric is the favorite is best illustrated by the fact that the nieces and nephews, as a general rule, remember Eric's name much easier and earlier than mine.

Case study #1: (2007) Eric and I enter a room where our three-year-old nephew is. He shouts, "Eric, you came back! And your girl is here too! Your friend came with you!" Yes, I had been relegated to the position of Eric's Girl. Hmph.

Case study #2: (2009) When we went to North Carolina recently, our four-year-old nephew repeatedly told us that his favorite person at our house (for some reason, he thinks we live with his Grandma and Grandpa) was Andrew, Eric's brother. He seriously told us this every day. Apparently, though, after we left he told his dad something along the lines of, "I like Andrew. And I like the Grandpa and the Grandma. And I like Eric. And I like the girl." The girl? Would be me. Two separate individuals on two very separate occasions.

Thus, when we hung out with some of Eric's family members in Washington state for Thanksgiving, I was elated when the following event occurred:

I asked our nearly-three-year-old niece what my name was. "Ummm... Sherry."

"Great job! What's his name?"

You ready for it?

Are you sure?

"Um... Uncle Sherry."

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! Eric has been eclipsed!

I spent the entire weekend trying to cement the idea of Uncle Sherry in her head. Eric spent the entire weekend trying to fix the confusion I was intentionally causing. She is a smart girl, though, and by the weekend she had things figured out.

But, for once, I was more memorable than Eric. And I will never forget it.