Not a Gadget: Siblings

This isn't really a gadget, but today I want to talk about siblings playing together.  I grew up with a sibling, and in retrospect, I'm really glad I did.  Not only did I have an automatic playmate, I had someone who knew my pain when I got in trouble (i.e. he had been there too).

This past weekend, Little E and Little P played together a LOT.  When I say a lot, I mean most of the weekend.  See, we are getting ready to move.  David and I have lived in our house for seven years, almost five of which have been with children.  You can imagine how much clutter we have built up (mostly toys and dust bunnies).  I am not an "immaculate house" person.  I don't like dirt or smells, but I can handle clothes/shoes/toys on the floor/counter/couch at any given moment.  I don't want to live in a museum; I want to live where I can get crazy and throw a ball in the house occasionally (with the boys, of course!).  There are no rooms in our house that are "off limits" to the boys, and basically nothing out that can't be replaced (that they can reach - I have a few things up high that if they were broken, I'd be out a ton of money to replace; in fact, two things are irreplaceable).  At any rate, even when it's clean, by many people's standards my house is a disaster.

Well, not any more!  We spent the last four days to a week cleaning, having a garage sale, and more cleaning.  And I mean seriously cleaning.  Like move all the furniture out of the room, mop the floor, dust the baseboards, wipe the baseboards (God, thank you for making someone think of disposable baby wipes!), then move all the furniture back in a different arrangement.  It was no small feat; someone had to be with the boys in case there was a fight, and it's hard to find something to do around there that's super-easy to just drop in the middle.  But we accomplished getting four rooms done and staged, as well as photographed (it pays to have your best friend as a real estate agent; she'll come and snap a picture after I get a room clean and she's saving them all so we can list later).  We want to have it all cleaned up before we list it.

I seem to have gotten off track here - the point was that David and I spent the weekend cleaning.  The boys played together quite nicely.  There were no major problems, no real fights (i.e. nobody lost an eye), and peace and harmony and laughter rang throughout our house most of the weekend.  It wasn't until David and I were both inside that there were problems.

Why is it that as long as no parents are around, everyone gets along, but as soon as an adult is within earshot (or they know you're watching), they start to fight?  Does this phenomenon have a name?

I love my boys.  I told them both how proud I was of them for being good all weekend while we cleaned.  I keep explaining that it's all so we can move to Colorado; Little E really wants to go NOW.  If they'll help me a little bit once it's all had its major cleanup, keeping it that way should be relatively easy (crossing fingers).