I have a niece. We call her Ernie. She is the most extraordinary thing. She’s a head taller than most girls her age, with huge beautiful blue eyes. She taught herself to read six months after she taught herself to talk, and had memorized Grandma’s map puzzle of the United States of America by age 3.
Like I said. Extraordinary.
As she’s grown older, we’ve begun noticing other extraordinary things about her. Like her ability to form squads of minions. (Megamind is a new favorite around here, so if you wouldn’t mind reading that last bit in character? MinYOHNS, please. Thankyouverymuch.) Last summer, my sister and I took all the kids to the park to let them run off some energy. Ernie disappeared for a few minutes, but we found her inside of a small hut on the playground. She had devised a game where she sat inside the hut, and every available toddler on the playground gathered pinecones and brought them to her. She had quite a crew of tiny tots out foraging. It reminded me of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice – I could almost hear the tune in my head. Doon doon doo doo doo doon doon!
The funny thing is, none of the kids mind being her minion. It’s not like they’re getting anything out of it, either. She’s just really convincing.
(Ming Wai, practicing her own despot skills)
Today, she and her siblings came over to play with my crew. I looked outside as I saw her march past my back window, and I had to laugh. As she marched along, the three younger kids (4, 2 and 2) were crawling behind her, single file, and grinning like it was the best fun they’d had all day.
My sister often wonders where the line between Leadership and Dictator lies.
I just wonder if she’ll teach me how to get the young kids to obey orders!
Haha- well played
ReplyDeleteCute, so very cute!!
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