High Pitch Eric

As most everyone knows I have 2 sons and 1 daughter. Zachary, my eldest, is the creative one. Elizabeth, my youngest and only daughter, is a delightful mix of girly girl and tomboy.

And then there's Lucas. He's the manly boy. He likes fishing, monster trucks, car races and football. He likes to get dirty, play in the mud, shoot hoops and pretend he is any one of a menagerie of superheroes. He has stuffed animals, sure, but they are a stuffed alligator who's ferocious and a huge stuffed dog named Boomer. He keeps his hair super short (typically...right now it's touching the tips of his ears) and usually wears it spiked in the front...by his own choice.

But then there's one part of Lucas that doesn't fit at all. His voice. Chuck calls him our "high-pitch Eric". It's usually part of Lucas' charm that is him; but then there are the times when he whines when I swear his voice could shatter glass.

However, even with his high voice (and he is only 4 1/2!) NO ONE has ever mistaken Lucas for a girl. Not even as a baby.

Until this weekend.

We went swimming at our local aquatic center on Saturday afternoon. We've been trying to make this a regular habit as it gets us out of the house, active and playing together as a family. And for only $10 for the entire family, it's cheaper than most things we can do out there right now when it's so bitter cold. Per usual, we got ready in the family changing rooms (easier to have both parents on hand to corral the kids), got the kids into their life jackets (my kids sink like stones), and out into the warm exercise pool. There was only one other family in there. Awesome!! I love having room to move around and play.

Lucas wears a red life jacket and blue/red Hawaiin flowered swim trunks. No shirt. He and Daddy were playing football when Chuck said "Lucas, it's coming to you!"

A grandmother from the other family pipes up and states "You named your girl, your daugher, Lucas?"

Chuck and I stopped and kinda looked; I'm sure we were looking rather confused. Chuck explained that no...Our daughters name was Elizabeth, his name (pointing at Lucas) is Lucas and his name (pointing to Zachary) is Zachary.

The woman looks at Lucas again and states "Ohhh, he's a boy?!"

Now, I understand that he has a rather high voice. But seriously? He's wearing no shirt, short hair, boy trunks and his name is Lucas. Hmmmm...that seems rather self-evident to me.

I kinda hope that his voice catches up with his attitude and demeanor before high school....kids can be really cruel.