When one is good the other is bad and vice versa until I have no idea which way to turn. They drive me nuts! I know I should be deeply flattered but to be the object of their internecine war is not something I relish!
I find it difficult to keep a straight face sometimes and of course I must not ever be seen as partisan. Give any emotion away especially one of mild amusement and it is used to its fullest against the other with a blatancy that takes your breath away.
One will be sulking at table, swinging his legs in the hope of catching the other sharply on the knee, bottom lip out and eyebrows somewhere in the middle; the other will be beaming beatifically at me saying something along the lines of: “I love you Mummy! You are the best Mummy in the world!” and casting surreptitious gloat filled glances at his brother.
It’s right out of Horrid Henry but the thing is I don’t get the benefits of having a Perfect Peter round the house.
However, the thing I love the best, although it's not until afterwards that I can appreciate it, is when I tell one off for some misdemeanor and set about organising a punishment to fit the crime: usually banishment.
Then it is surprising how often they will stick up for each other united against an evil foe. They will accompany each other in banishment even if the reason for the banishment is that one or the other punched, kicked, or even bit the other enought to make them come running to me for help in the first place.
If I ask one to say sorry then the other responds with sorry too even if they are not in the wrong. It makes me wonder if I am needed at all! Oh the dark looks I am given as they stalk off into the play room firmly shutting me out following an arbitration.
It is the one thing I always longed for as my sister an I did not have it, that bond, that ever lasting ( I hope) friendship.
