Wife is always accusing me of having a favorite amongst the two kids. Apparently I prefer the toddler Little Miss over the baby Usurper. I say apparently because as far as I can tell I love them both the same.

Sure I may interact with the toddler more, but only because that is possible. Let’s be honest here, a sixth month old does nothing much more than roll around on the floor drooling on things and trying to put anything it comes across into it’s mouth. This is not an activity that I care to join Usurper in.

I will admit there was a time in my misspent youth when a fair chunk of a Saturday night would involve rolling around on the floor drooling over things, but that is long behind me now (and probably in front of me in my future of dementia as well).

Because the toddler can speak, entertain me with song and dance and be trained to do simple tasks then maybe I do lean towards spending more time with her - I think it is only natural.

Don’t get me wrong, the six month old also has her uses and joys. Ummmm and here are some of them:

• You can rest a remote control on them while cradling them and they don’t seem to mind, don’t try resting a beer on their head though, they tend to spill some of the beer after a while.
• If they cry in the middle of the night you can pretend to be a caring husband and get up and try to settle them while in reality watching the playoffs (hell you even get sympathy in the morning for being tired rather than yelled at for staying up all night watching sports).
• They don’t insist on watching ‘their television’ and don’t seem to mind if you play Playstation 3 for hours on end (they don’t even want a go), they are just happy chewing on the power cord.
• People let you push into the front of lines if you are carrying a baby (particularly if they think you are a hapless bumbling dad), even at the pub.
• Generally speaking they are fairly compliant, provided you aren’t trying to get them to sleep.

In summary the baby is great if you just want to leave them on the floor (remove all dead bugs and other choking hazards first) and spend your time doing something else.

So there you go Wife, it’s not that I love them differently, just that one is more interactive than the other one at this point in time. Although as I have clearly demonstrated even the young’un serves a purpose.

There will, over a lifetime, certainly be periods when I have more in common with one than the other and vice versa. This has nothing to do with loving one more than the other, that much is for sure, as I love them each with every fibre of my being. But just the way it is.

But in my defence there will be periods of their lives when they prefer to be with you than me, and vice versa (generally based on who is cutting them the most slack at the time).

None of this is favoritism, just a fact of life. Besides the older I get the more they will hope that it is their sister and not them that is the favorite, because neither of them is going to be the one I want to live with as I grow ever more decrepit and am looking to someone to nurse me in my declining years. Just because I changed their nappies doesn’t mean they will gratefully change mine.