BFF

I’ve mentioned my friendship with Emma before on this blog. She reached out to me when I started to worry that no one else was out there, she introduced me to much of the local toddler group circuit and she bought me along to Slimming World when my time was right. She’s great. What I haven’t talked about so much is the friendship our children have. They’re both two (Oscar’s an April baby, Isabelle a June). They started to hang out, because their mamas did, but over the past two years, they’ve become sure friends, despite their early age. ‘Oscar’ (or Corcor) was one of Isabelle’s first words (one of her favourite sentences is “where Corcor?”) and ‘Isabelle’ is the only name I’ve heard him have a crack at and he’s done so several times (and to be fair to my largely non verbal son, it’s not the easiest name to master 😉 ).

Isabelle is an stereotypical girl, caring and physically demonstrative, while my boy remains steadfastly male in his aloofness. But it doesn’t stop her shouting his name, running up to him and stroking his face, as she did when they met this morning. The excitement they show, each in their own way, when meeting one another is palpable and so incredibly sweet to see.

Don’t get me wrong they don’t always get along. In some respects they’re like an old married couple. They bicker, they snatch, they shout. Isabelle is going through a ‘mine’ phase and Oscar has a habit, particularly when he’s tired, of pushing people, including Isabelle, away. But it doesn’t stop them laughing together and they never hold grudges and are always happy to see one another the next time.

Isabelle’s vocab is awesome – she narrates her life, which is both exhausting and amazing! As I’ve mentioned, Oscar not so much. But this has never bothered them. They just accept and, I believe, understand each other in their own way. They don’t see each other’s differences, that she’s a girl and he’s a boy, or that she like dolls and he likes trains. When they play together it’s just as buddies. Not all children get on with all children. It’s not a judgement it’s just the way it is (and don’t try and tell me that it’s not, I’ve been to enough toddler groups to know this is the case). I know Oscar can sometimes be a bit baffling. He can be loud and full of energy one minute and want to play quietly by himself the next. But none of that has ever bothered Isabelle. She makes him laugh and he her. And sometimes that’s all it takes.

I don’t know if they’ll always be friends. They’re destined to go to different pre-school and primary schools for a start. And one day they’ll probably start to notice their differences and wont want to hang out with each other. But for now they’re just Isabelle and Oscar.

BFF

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