Second Favorite

I was having a text-versation with my niece, L, yesterday, who was home drawing a picture for me.  She asked about my second favorite animal because she was struggling to draw my first favorite: giraffes.  So I told her that my second favorite animal was probably meerkats (I was really hooked on Meerkat Manor when Sean Astin narrated, but I didn't really love the narration style of his replacement).

But her question perplexed me for a moment.  We're used to thinking about our "favorite" something or other, but it's more challenging thinking about our second favorite.  What do we do when we can't have our first choice?  And it's almost impossible to think about our second favorite anything without considering our most favorite first.  Have you noticed?

Anyway, it gave me the idea to put together a little questionnaire for my kids (for fun) to get them thinking.  Here are their answers to what is their second favorite of ten things...

1. Beverage?
S - Diet Coke
H - Fanta
Z - Root Beer
J - Sweet Tea
O - Root Beer

2. Vacation spot?
S - North Carolina's beaches
H - Disneyland
Z - Moose Hillock (a campground in NH)
J - Disneyland
O - Florida

3. Color?
S - black
H - black
Z - black
J - gray
O - green

4. Dessert?
S - cheesecake
H - cake
Z - cobbler
J - sorbet
O - ice cream

5. Animal?
S - white tiger
H - eagle
Z - dog
J - squirrel
O - lions

6. Restaurant?
S - Red Robin
H - Bravo!
Z - McDonald's
J - Taco Bueno
O - Olive Garden

7. Car?
S - Hummer
H - Aston Martin
Z - Jeep Cherokee
J - Mustang
O - Mustang

8. Footwear?
S - tennis shoes
H - crocs
Z - high-tops
J - flip-flops
O - flip-flops

9. Ice cream flavor?
S - Vanilla
H - Oreo
Z - Mint Chocolate Chip
J - Swirl
O - Cookie Dough

10. Board game?
S - Monopoly
H - Scattergories
Z - Yahtzee
J - Chess (to which she added, "But I don't eethan know how to play it!")
O - Candy Land