A Tale of 3 ‘Things’ (How I blame the parents and why it’s not as cruel as its sounds!)

‘I will pick up the hook.

You will see something new.

Two things. And I call them

Thing One and Thing Two.

These Things will not bite you.

They want to have fun.’

Then, out of the box

Came Thing Two and Thing One!

The Cat in The Hat, 

By Dr. Seuss, 1957

I grew up in a world full of green eggs and ham, pig bands, Sneetches and Zax, pale green pants, three-eyelashed Tizzys, long –legger kwongs, foxes in sox and cats that wear hats....
This may explain why I am rather odd... I like to call it 'special'.....

My mum is a Dr. Seuss fanatic (she still has a cat in the hat sat in her bedroom!) and that quirk has been inherited by me (genetically, obviously, there’s nothing I could’ve done to avoid it!). There was a time I could recite the Sneeches, Zax and Cat in the Hat word for word, from memory (Just think what that brain space could’ve achieved!) – I probably could do the same now given the chance – which is an exceptionally worrying thought, so for now I will claim ignorance!

When myself and my younger sister were little, my dad playfully termed us ‘thing 1 and thing 2’ in respect of the mischief making duo in Dr.Seuss’ possibly most famous creation. And so upon having my first child, it was only natural for the name to be inherited – and yes, the poor thing has been subject to the same fanatical ‘Seussology’ that I was forced to endure – ‘it’s only fair! 

At just a few weeks old, Thing 1 was already sporting his first ‘Thing One’ piece of apparel; a lovely Red Vest ..... he was also the proud owner of a number of Cat in the Hat T-shirts, a Horton vest and his very own cuddly cat in the hat ... as well as a complete Dr Seuss storybook collection!
The name also served as a very useful dual purpose term for blogging as I sometimes wanted to mention something he’d said or done without having to identify him by name and so ‘Thing 1’ became established as my first born's online alter-ego.

When my second child came along, she would naturally become ‘Thing Two’.... and t-shirts depicting the ‘Thing’ logo were soon purchased and loved..... this lucky little lady also had a ‘Thing’ fabric taggy toy as a baby and her very own copies of some of our favourite (but by this point, well-loved) Dr Seuss texts.

With the arrival of a third child, we had to think on our feet.... could we go where The Cat had failed? Could we possibly coin a ‘Thing 3’? of course we could! new T-shirts were promptly acquired, a mum of Things top for myself and a set of Dr Seuss board books. 

And that’s where we stand today – their online alter-egos serve as a constant reminder of my childhood and hopefully also put a smile on the faces of others. When they’re older I hope that they carry on the tradition when they have ‘Things’ of their own! But for now, I shall keep up with reading Dr.Seuss to them a couple of nights a week and training Thing 1 to recite ‘The Sneetches’. 

See, it isn’t as cruel as it may first appear – I didn’t term them ‘Things’ because it’s easier than remembering which one is called what one and which one is who,(although that comes a close second in my ‘good reasons’ book!) and that is why I wholeheartedly BLAME MY PARENTS!



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