Ellie and Brynn

From the very beginning these two girls seemed to have a special connection. I don't know what it was about each other but for whatever reason they decided that the other babies in their classroom were not nearly as cool as each other. Now that I look back, I can see traditions that they started even before they were crawling... like this one, sharing their breakfast every morning. To this day they look forward to sharing their breakfasts together... bananas, yogurt, cereal... What's Ellie's is Brynn's and what's Brynn's is Ellie's. And to this day, Brynn is often my only hope of leaving Ellie at daycare without her melting down.
At first, as with all babies, they mostly just smiled at each other and parallel played close to each other, but it didn't take long for them to actually start interacting together. Look at how cute they are on their first trick-or-treating at daycare. They weren't too sure what was going on but it didn't take them long to realize people put candy into their bags if they just held them up. Ellie took it one step further... the trick to getting her to participate was that Bun Bun was in her bag. She showed everyone her Bun Bun and they mistook the gesture as "give me candy." Too funny.
Soon came the seesaw. The girls invented a new game where they BOTH got on the rocking horse and seesawed together. It was a huge hit. All the other kids would join in. When we arrived at school, Brynn would almost always be happily playing with someone else (sometimes even on the seesaw horse) but would push that kid aside as soon as she saw La-Lo (Ellie). And the first thing Ellie would do when she arrived was head to the horse and say "Brynn! Seesaw!"

Bounce Town is a major contributor to their friendship. Around 18 months of age we started hanging out together after school and bouncing on the big balloons. This only solidified their friendship and it was so cute to watch them chase each other around.
Bounce Town night was always an easy night with lots of fun. I wish I could say that taking pictures of the girls was as easy but I don't have any of them together on the air castles, except this one:
And of course, as luck would have it, the settings on my camera were wrong and I had to convert it to black and white. Go figure.
Have you noticed the size difference yet? Brynn is such a sweetie and has always been teeny tiny. Eventually she would catch up to Ellie but she's still quite a bit smaller.
Wherever we are, these girls love to do what the other is doing. Eat what the other is eating. Laugh when the other is laughing, even if they don't know why.
And Ellie is by far more silly whenever Brynn is around. I think Brynn is a naturally silly little girl and Ellie often wants to pretend she is too. Ellie is naturally serious, though, so the only silliness she has usually originates from Brynn.
One of my favorite days spent with Brynn was when we took them to the farm. OMG! They were running everywhere and couldn't stop laughing and giggling. They LOVED it! And they were always right by each other. We've tried to hang out with other friends of Ellie's but for whatever reason they run off in different directions and it's more of a "Hi there, bye now!" sort of experience. With Brynn, they remain by each other's sides no matter what we're doing.

Oh Halloween... Have you ever seen two cuter bugs? To this day Ellie claims she wants to be a bee for Halloween just like Brynn. Sigh. I'm thinking she doesn't quite get the point.
Look how grown up they look!
It took awhile to teach the girls how to go down the slide together, but it was neat to finally see them get it.
And of course, you can't be two little girls without a princess night or two. Brynn's favorite princess is the Blue one. Ellie's is usually Belle or Sleeping Beauty.
Dancing...
Swinging...
And flying kites... I don't think there is anything we've tried to do with Brynn that Ellie didn't truly enjoy.
And boy do they love to hug... though sometimes it's more like a tackle (usually with Brynnie on the bottom).
Most recently we went to the carnival. And you don't have to try too hard to see how excited they were about the rides.
I can't believe they're now old enough to ride some of the rides all by themselves, and you can tell they're so proud.
We've also added swimming to the list of things the girls do together and it's always a hit - surprise surprise. Usually they start off nervous but by the end of the swim they're both so proud that they can swim all by themselves (with a swimming jacket).
I saved my favorite for last (though the fact that it's the most recent photo was helpful too). Look at how grown up our girls are, just so happy to be sitting outside and having "tea" together. I am really looking forward to seeing their friendship develop even more. Brynn's Mommy met her best friend when they were both 18 months old... so who knows? These girls might be together for a very long time.

And now I end this crazy long post with hugs... and lots of them.