An A+ in Economics

My children will most certainly make an A+ in economics.  They know all about trading, and it is HILARIOUS to watch!  Often, one of the twins will have a toy that is appealing to the other. You can see the other watching carefully in hopes that the toy will soon lose it's appeal, be tossed aside, and be ready to be quickly snatched up. When that doesn't happen, you can see the wheels begin to turn and the plot developing in the little minds of these 17 month olds! This is usually how it works...

For example (and I wished that I had a picture of this...I'm working on it!), the cell phone is of great interest to these kiddos. We often let Faith and Cameron play with them while we are getting ready for the day. Cameron usually wakes first, so he naturally gets the cell first. Then, Faith wakes from her beauty sleep and the plotting begins. She spots Cameron with the cell phone. She watches for a short time and then begins to search....for something that she thinks may be more appealing to Cameron than....say...a cell phone!!! Yep, she is in for a trade. Usually she will try to find another electronic, because my kids are obsessed with electronics! More often than not, she grabs the remote and offers it to Cameron. No words are exchanged....just their jibber jabber of twin talk. Sometimes Cameron is very receptive, handing the phone over as he grabs the remote at the same time. At others, Faith may receive a slap across the head with the phone, indicating...."I'M NOT INTERESTED!!!"

This kind of trading goes on ALL DAY LONG!!! They trade books, toys, chairs, and even their food and forks and mealtime. I never quite understand WHY they would trade their food and forks. They have EXACTLY the same food on their plates AND their forks are identical. Who knows!

I'm posting two pictures that don't show a trade in action. However, you can see that even as they clean they make trades...they can't decide who will sweep and who will swiffer!!!