Now I understand....

When I had two boys so close together, everyone suggested that I might as well start planning to buy two of everything. I chuckled and thought 'how wasteful...they can just learn to share.' In hindsight, perhaps it would have been a better decision to actually assume that those older, more experienced Moms had insight that I didn't. Let's recap yesterday....

1) While getting Luke dressed he screams bloody murder, rolls onto his stomach, and refuses to get dressed all because he wants to leave on his Thomas the Train pajamas. I give up and remember that Grayson outgrew an old Thomas t-shirt and I had it stored in Luke's closet somewhere. Three Rubbermaid containers later, I find the damn shirt. Luke overjoyed. Yey for me - happy kid. Then Grayson starts crying because HE wants a Thomas shirt. Well- tough luck kiddo, we only have one. Subsequently, Grayson is mad the rest of the morning.

2) We go down to breakfast. Only one seat faces the TV. Screaming ensues. So I rearrange the chairs so that both boys sit on the same side of the table.

3) Only one green sippy cup. You can guess the problem.

4) We go to load up in the van...which does, by the way, have two identical carseats. But I put stick-up words on the headrests of the front seats to help Grayson learn to read. One seat says "BIKE" the other says "TRAIN." Turns out "TRAIN" is more popular than "BIKE." So...one screaming kid all the way to school. (Postscript - today each side read "TRAIN.")

5) We get home from school and go play on the deck. We've found spray bottles on warm days make for great entertainment. My mistake - owning one blue and one white spray bottle. Turns out the blue one is more popular.

So...my dilemma is that I don't want to be that parent who gives in all the time. I really feel like we've done a good job NOT giving in. But what I've also learned is that I've endured countless hours of screaming when just simply buying/arranging two of the exact same things would have prevented the meltdowns to begin with. Lesson learned. I should have listened to the advice to begin with. They were right.