Thing 3 was more interested in the dirt on the ground than the animals.

So, with Thing 1 leading the way, he and Thing 2 set out to clean the basement. They may even have told me first. I don’t remember, they tell me a lot of stuff.  SuburbanMommy was enjoying her Mothers Day outside the house, so I had my hands full.   I’m not sure what they were doing, I was just glad they weren’t fighting.  I assumed cleaning the basement meant what it always had until that point, which consisted of picking up all the toys and balls and other stuff.

A little while later, I spotted Thing 2 on his way to the basement. He was wearing goggles and had a roll of paper towels. His socks were soaking wet.

Me: “What are you guys doing down there?”

Thing 2: “We’re cleaning”

It was time to take a look.  With Thing 4 in my arms, I went to the basement to check out this cleaning operation.  I found the basement carpet was wet.  Really wet.  There were puddles of water on the floor in the bathroom.  Several towels were soaking wet.  They were wetting the towels, then carrying them, dripping wet, to parts of the basement to “clean” them.  How adorable.  To be more efficient, Thing 1 instructed Thing 2 to use the other sink at the wet bar.  Now there were two sources of puddles on the floor.

Let’s look at the bright side. They were trying to help. How often does that happen? They were also working together without fighting. That’s a good thing.  After using nearly an entire roll of paper towels to soak up the water, I asked:

“Is there anything else you cleaned I should know about?”

“No.” Then he thought about it. “Yes.”

“What?”

“The pillows”

They had taken the pillows from the couch and held them under the water in the sink to wash them.  Then put them back on the couch.   Adorable.

Thing 1: Daddy, Thing 2 peed on the floor

Me: How do you know?

Thing 1: He told me

Me: [to Thing 2] Did you pee on the floor?

Thing 2: No

Me: Did you pee on the floor?

Thing 2: Yes

Clearly he has no future as a spy and would never hold up under questioning.

Me: Where was it so we can clean it up?

Thing 2: I don’t remember

There are dozens of conversations like this every day. To me, this is completely normal.

Before moving in together, Thing 1 and Thing 2 had different personalities, routines, and interests. Thing 1 liked to recite sports statistics, go to sleep early with the lights off, and he was generally serious and reserved. Thing 2 liked imagination play, regularly having conversations with his dragons and toys for a good hour in his bed before finally falling asleep with the lights on.

From what I’ve seen in just a few weeks each is becoming more like the other. It’s like instead of a Thing 1 and Thing 2, we now have two Thing One-And-A-Half’s. Some of this merging into Thing 1.5 has been a good influence. Thing 2 is now more interested in reading, sports (good for me), and other interests and abilities like his big brother. And Thing 1 has become more imaginative and shows a sillier side. Surprisingly, they have become even more inseparable. I honestly don’t know how they don’t get tired of each other.

But, we also have a spreading of the not so good habits. They now both stay up late and play in their room to the point where we need to go up at least 3 times a night to tell them to quiet down and go to sleep. What used to be a very organized and orderly bedroom under just the management of Thing 1, has evolved into the just put everything on the floor system favored by Thing 2.

All in all, it’s been a net positive outcome. Which I have to say was an unexpected, very pleasant surprise.

In case you can’t pick out the Things, here are some clues. Thing 1 is strategically positioned between the two girls and loving it. Thing 2 is the kid who jumps up and waves “Daddy!” when he walks into the room. And Thing 3, well, you won’t miss him. He is the center of attention as always.

Thing 2: Why did the chicken go in the pool?

Why?

Thing 2: Because he wanted to go down the drain

Ba dum bump!

Thing 2: Why did the chicken go to the barn?

Thing 1: To see all the animals?

Thing 2: [cracking up as he says it] Because he wanted the animals to bite off his booty.

But we adults know the true test of any partnership is to put your money where your mouth is. Go into business with someone or buy something together and you’ll learn the true nature of your relationship.

That’s exactly what happened yesterday. Thing 1 desparately wanted to get Wii football. But he didn’t have enough allowance saved. So I suggested he see if Thing 2 would put up half the money. Together they had enough to cover the cost. We counted out the cash and took a trip to Target.

So far so good. They are taking turns playing. And they’ve learned a valuable lesson in how money works.

We’ll just see what happens when one of them gets tired of football and wants to trade it in for another game, but the other partner doesn’t want to sell. So one has to buy out the other’s share. But he won’t have the cash up front so there will be a payment plan, financing, and maybe collections for delinquent payments. I can see Thing 3 as the debt collector muscle. “Pay me now or I will hit you with this Buzz Lightyear”