Two Minutes

Summary
Power shifts in the Tibble household when the twins find out Tommy is two minutes older than Timmy. Frustrated in his new role, Timmy enlists the help of an expert older brother tamer: D.W.!

Plot
In the introduction, Mrs. Read makes Arthur stop playing a computer game and go to bed. Arthur imagines being in charge and sending his parents to bed, only to be bossed about by D.W. in turn. He concludes that it is a good thing, that younger people are not in charge, especially Tibbles.

Two Minutes

Arthur is asked to babysit the Tibbles. He is self-confident, because of how he tamed them with a scary story the last time. D.W. is sceptical.

The Tibbles turn out to be as unmanageable as ever and ruin one of Arthur's books. During lunch, they argue about who is older. They ask their grandma, who looks at their birth certificates and reveals that Tommy is older by two minutes. Tommy immediately starts bossing Timmy about.

Back at the Read house, Arthur tells D.W. how Tommy acted like a grown-up and kept Timmy in check. He believes that there will be no more problems with the Tibbles. D.W., however, is still sceptical.

At the Tibbles' house, Tommy tells Timmy that he is too old for Mary Moo Cow, but cannot watch Super Action Team until he is two minutes older.

After Mrs. Tibble has told him that Tommy will always be older, Timmy goes to D.W. He tells her that he is running away, but she promises to teach him how to deal with an older brother.

The next morning, Timmy tells Tommy that he is too old for his favorite breakfast cereal and makes him eat prunes and millet husks. He also takes the training wheels off Tommy's bike, causing him to fall. During swimming lessons, he tells Tommy to jump off the 3 meters springboard.

Timmy phones D.W. to tell her that Tommy no longer talks about being older. D.W. tells him to proceed to phase two.

Later, Tommy calls for Timmy, telling him that their grandma says it is lunchtime, but he finds Timmy outside the house wearing a diaper and Tommy's neckerchief. When Tommy tries to stop him, Lucy's mom tells him to be nice to his baby brother, while Lucy mistakes Timmy for Tommy. Tommy tries to tell them that he is Tommy as they leave, as Timmy wets his diaper and asks for it to be changed. Embarrassed, Tommy yells for his grandma.

Later, Arthur goes to babysit, confident that it will be the easiest job ever. Instead, he is immediately knocked down by the twins playing soccer. Mrs. Tibble tells Arthur that Tommy asked her to fib and say that the twins are exactly the same age. Tommy tells Arthur that being an older brother is horrible and goes back to playing ball. Arthur screams loudly. D.W. hears him and remarks that Tommy learned his lesson and that she likes happy endings.

Major

 * D.W. Read
 * Timmy and Tommy Tibble

Minor

 * Lucy
 * Kate Read
 * Lucy's mother
 * Arthur Read
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * Mrs. Tibble

Cameo

 * Maryann
 * Amanda Hulser
 * Ms. Albright
 * Liam
 * Mike
 * Edwin

Trivia

 * Running Gag: Tommy bossing Timmy around.

Episode connections

 * Tommy being a two minutes older than Timmy is a recurring theme in "Whistling in the Wind."
 * Arthur mentions having babysat the Tibbles before, calling himself an "expert Tibble tamer," and D.W. says that it was a "long time ago," and that she doesn't think simply telling them a scary story will work anymore. Arthur babysits the Tibbles in "Arthur Babysits" from Season 1

Errors

 * The Tibbles have training wheels on their bikes, but in "D.W. Rides Again," they don't have it.
 * Its possible this episode was before D.W. rides again.
 * The pool has two diving boards, despite the water going up to Ms. Albright's knees. One could easily get injured from diving into such shallow water.

Production notes

 * Many, if not all of the names seen in the credits sequence of the action show the Tibbles watch, Super Action Team, are those of actual staff members, such as Gerry Capelle, Jeremy O'Neill and Maureen Paxton.

Home video

 * This episode is one of eight stories featured on the DVD release Arthur: Brothers and Sisters.