Hanging with Corinne and Elliot

On Friday, one of my best friends and former roommates from Davis came to visit for the day with her two kids, Corinne and Elliot. Corinne is two months older than Padyn, but so far advanced motor skill wise you'd think she was a year older. While Padyn is still hesitant to walk down the stairs, Corinne came barreling down with the baby doll stroller in her grasp. Then she went back up to get the play suitcase from Padyn who was standing at the top watching in fascination.

Elliot is nothing like his sister. At 9 months old, he is content to hang out and be mellow. He enjoyed simply playing with the same toy most of the day. He doesn't feel the need to move himself about the room in search of new adventures.

Padyn and Corinne love playing together and talk about each other often when apart. Yet, they do tend to quarrel as 2 year olds will. It usually entails one of them having something the other one thinks she wants. It is usually Padyn that ends up breaking down in a tantrum of tears. We spent much of the morning reminding them to use their words and say what it was they wanted. Padyn needed to be removed from situations a few times for just absolutely losing it over what to our eyes is nothing. But then, when you are 2, everything is a drama.


The highlight of the day was going to the park. Each girl did great and we had very little fighting. Occasionally they even played together and really enjoyed each other's company, like on the structure or the at the sand table. But the best was when Corinne decided she needed to strip down and take all her clothes off. This happened so fast that both Julie and I, who were sitting not 3 feet from her, failed to notice until her onesie was just about off her head. Pants, hat, shoes, socks, and sunglasses where already gone. Fortunately she still had on her diaper. When asked why she took off her clothes, Corinne claimed her shirt was dirty. Gotta love it. So, of course, Corinne then proceeded to play in the sand without her clothes on. While Padyn didn't want to join in the nakedness, she did find it very amusing to dump sand on Corinne while she was unclothed.

Most of the rest of the day was tame. The girls spent most of their time driving Padyn's baby doll stroller and suitcase around the coffee table or driving the cars around the "track" they made of the little foam alphabet. Playing various forms of ball was entertaining, as well as watching me make dinner standing up on their little chairs at the counter. Elliot was in love with Padyn's Little People garage and spent most of his time there, although he did manage to pull himself up on the coffee table a few times to check out the track the girls had made.

I have to say, I'm very proud of both girls. While the morning started out with many tears, the day ended with both of them being able to use their words to ask for things they wanted. It was very sweet and encouraging for the mommies to know our breath actually hadn't been wasted.

After dinner and a bath, Corinne and Elliot headed home with their Mommy and Daddy. Padyn is still asking where Corinne is and thinking she will see Baby Elliot everywhere we go.