Opposites Attract

Emma Vance definitely got the social butterfly gene from Ryan, and as she continues to grow and develop, her desire to socialize is also growing--exponentially. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that "desire" isn't the most accurate word to describe her behavior; "desperate" is more like it! :)

When we're in public, she shouts greetings at nearby kids, attempts to make friends at adjacent tables in restaurants and crawls all over other babies at the playground. Even at only 11 months old, E.V. loves deeply and passionately, wears her heart on her sleeve and thinks of everyone as a potential best friend. As embarrassing as her behavior might be in the moment (as I pull her off of other children and explain to her that--gasp--maybe they don't want to play with her), I hope she keeps her innocent excitement and loving nature all of her life. (When it comes to boys, though, I am definitely going to have to teach her to play the game! ;) )

Emma Vance's dreams came true when her pen pal, Emerson, who is only two weeks older than E.V., came to visit us while in Atlanta. It made me sad that E.V. wasn't born a twin, because clearly she would be better served to have a constant playmate. (Plus I'm sure the dogs would enjoy the break from being hugged, petted and chased all day!) Having Emerson visit was a glimpse into what that life with twins would be like, and despite the difficult wrangling that occurred anytime one parent was left alone with the two semi-mobile, super-explorative babies, it was heavenly.

Well, heavenly for Emma Vance.

Emerson was such a sweetheart, excited to crawl around a new place and play with new toys. E.V., on the other hand, was just happy to have Emerson around, and thus spent most of her time chasing her, grabbing her by the diaper, attempting to hug her...you know, the things any excited baby would do to accost a peer. :) It did warm my heart and make me laugh, though, to see that even though the girls are so similar in age, they're already so different: Danielle's blondie v. my brownie; tiny-eyed Emma Vance v. puppy-eyed Emerson; my slower-than-molasses eater v. Danielle's food vacuum...but this visit was surely an exercise that proved that opposites truly do attract because the girls had such a good time--and so did their parents!

On a side note, when Danielle and I were out in public we were constantly asked if the girls were twins. It took every ounce of self-control and empathy not to reply in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, yes, of course they are! Feel free to ignore the fact that the blond-haired-blue-eyed woman is HOLDING the blond-haired-blue-eyed baby and that I'm HOLDING my completely-opposite-of-blond-haired-blue-eyed doppelgänger." I suppose people just see cute babies and lose all sense of reason? :)

The visit was too short, and these numerous pictures will both give you an idea of how the visit went and (hopefully) brighten your day. The gist of it all? Well, they're both babies, so there was eating, playing, bathing and sleeping--as well as some diaper changes, bumped heads and toy-sharing. Enjoy!

The girls enjoyed lunch at home:

E.V.: "Hey, wanna be friends?"

Emerson: "Um, that bottle would last me about 30 seconds..."

Emerson: "...but let me try it anyway."
E.V.: "Okay, I'll share my bottle with you..."

"...and my one piece of strawberry since you ate all of yours
while I'm so slow that I haven't even managed to eat this one..."

"...and then let's play Patty Cake, okay? No, really, it'll be fun..."

They played with toys. Well, Emerson played and Emma Vance begged Emerson to play with her instead:

Emerson: "Hey, I have this toy at home!"

The girls had a dinner out with the grown ups:

Afterwards, E.V. and Emerson played upstairs before they had to get ready for bed, grabbing any random objects for entertainment:

E.V.: "I'll share my favorite straw with you!"

Emerson: "No thanks. I'll play with this lens cap instead."
E.V.: "Fine. I'll take my straw over here." {pouty face}

E.V.: "Just kidding! We can be friends!"

"No, really, Emerson. Be my friend! COME BACK HERE!"

sharing their mutual love of shaking things

They took a bath, and Emerson splashed like crazy, which cracked E.V. up:

Bath tub splashing unites even the most opposite of babies!

E.V. and Emerson toweled off in the cutest of ways:

(That's a look of admiration on Emma Vance's face, I swear. And, yes, that is pure fear on Emerson's.)

And then E.V. gave Emerson her birthday gift, and the Mommies almost died of cuteness overload:

I don't even want to know what Emerson was thinking in this picture. :)

(Do you think we'll ever get a picture of the six of us together?)

Super Emerson!