Friends

This post has been floating around in my head all week, but I have just now sat down to write it. 

Sometime last week, Elanor announced, "I like my friends, Mommy, know dat?!?!" 

{She ends a lot of sentences in "know dat", meaning "did I know that?" ("that" meaning whatever she had just announced).}

Eli and Elanor (about 11 months old)

This little statement got me thinking. Elanor really loves her friends (Grey, Micah, Eli, Hazel, Noelle, Malachi and others at church). We see our upstairs neighbors a lot, since they obviously live upstairs and have twins the same age as Elanor. She loves them and her day is not complete unless she has seen Grey and Micah at least once. She often talks about how much she loves Grey, how she wants to hug Micah, how she wants to walk to Eli's house, or ask Hazel to play. She seriously loves her little friends so much. It amazes and inspires me that such a young little person already loves and needs friends so much. We, humans, are born with a desire to love and be loved. We are not complete unless we can love and be loved. I love that this is evident in two year olds. Of course, I already knew that about the parent/child relationship, but seeing it in a peer to peer relationship is something new (well, it has developed over the last year). I love it. I love that Elanor loves other people so much (sometimes a bit much--she is a hugger and kisser--and some kids do not always want so much attention). That is not to say that there are not fights (there are plenty), but parents are there to supervise and two year olds forgive each other in about a second. 

Elanor and Malachi (Elanor--about 16 months)

Elanor with Grey and Micah (Elanor--21 months)

This gives me hope for this human race of ours. You know, that race that kills other people, bickers over gun laws, starts wars, and such. If a two year old can love so much and is born with the need to love and be loved, then what is our problem? We need to be more like children (in a good way, no fighting over toy cars, boots, or baby dolls) and love and forgive easily. Everyone needs a friend (or several) no matter their age. I know when we first moved to SLC it was hard because I had left so many good friends in Virginia. I made friends here eventually and it makes me so much happier to have friends. It sounds cheesy, but everyone needs friends. We need other humans. So, lets try to be more friendly, more free with our time to help others, more likely to give hugs, and more willing to play/talk. After all, if a two year old can do it, then surely an adult can. 

{And since I could not pick just a few pictures, here are a ton more adorable pictures of Elanor and her friends. I actually had more, but limited it to non-posey pictures, if you get my drift.}

Eli and Elanor at the zoo (Elanor--26 months)

Elanor and Grey chillin' in the hammock.

Elanor with Malachi (and Tyler of course)

Elanor with Grey and Micah (and Becky)

Cake!


Friends are the best.