The kids actually do fight sometimes

Everyone always asks how Patrick and Melkamu get along, and I invariably say that they get along wonderfully. I've even been known to say that I'm still waiting for the honeymoon period to end.

It really hasn't, though we're now 18 months into having two children. The kids do get along really, really well. They play together, read together, share a room WAY better than Siobhan and I ever did, and nothing makes me happier than the sound of them giggling together (although it's hard to balance the love of that sound with the need for them to go to sleep when it happens after bedtime).

Sure, they have their disagreements. Invariably, Melkamu wants a toy that Patrick is playing with, or Kamu puts something down for a second that Patrick immediately snatches up. They like to wrestle but Kamu hasn't got the self-control to not fall with all of his (considerable) weight when he tackles Patrick. And Kamu, being 2, is still learning that hitting isn't acceptable. It's sometimes hard for Patrick to deal with Melkamu's complete and utter devotion when Patrick has a friend over. 5-year-olds prefer not to have a 2 1/2 year old tagging along constantly. Kamu doesn't quite understand that he's not 5 and therefore cannot do everything that Patrick does. But yesterday, they took it to a new level...

I came home from work to find both children in time-out. Jason told me that they'd gotten into a fistfight! I was shocked, especially since Jason said it was a very "typical Patrick" way of fighting. He took me out of the kids' earshot and explained why: Patrick is a very, VERY logical kid. Extremely creative, but everything always has a logical explanation--he's just good at thinking outside the box.

Anyway, apparently Kamu hit him for some reason and Jason heard Patrick say "Ow Kamu, don't hit me!" Jason was on his way up to intervene when he heard Patrick say "OW! If you hit me like that, I'm going to hit you the same way!" And sure enough, Jason got there in time to see them hitting each other--if Kamu hit Patrick, Patrick hit Kamu back exactly the same way. When Patrick finished his hit, then Melkamu would hit again.

Patrick could totally have taken advantage of being older and having a longer reach, but he didn't. Kamu could totally have hit Patrick while Patrick was hitting him, but he didn't. They've clearly been well indoctrinated to take turns and be fair ;-)

I'm sure that there are more fights in their future but I love that two minutes after they were done with time-out, they were laughing hysterically at each other again.