Sometime recently when I must not have been looking, my daughter went from being just sisters to also being friends.  I don’t exactly know how it happened but it is really fun to watch.

My younger daughter (Chloe) is almost 1.5 years old and my older daughter (Julianna)  is almost 13 months older.  They are both going through very different phases of their development and from the very beginning, their personalities couldn’t have been more different.  My wife and I wondered what the dynamic would be between the two of them.

At first, their interactions were pretty basic because Chloe was a newborn baby and Julianna was old enough to actually play.  Julianna didn’t pay much attention to Chloe except for the occasional “make nice” head smack.  On we went.  Chloe started trying to move and eventually got up on her feet.  At that point, the chase was on.

Still lots of “making nice” but Julianna was treating her sister more like one of her toys than anything else.    As Chloe’s personality developed into a silly, happy-go-lucky monsterpiece of a toddler, Julianna continued on her merry way.  Julianna enjoys coloring, reading, her baby dolls, using her imagination.  Chloe likes trucking around from one side of the room to the other, playing with Elmo, and animals.

Then it started…

Chloe started to take interest in Julianna’s activities.  Julianna realized she had someone else to talk to, even if that someone couldn’t exactly talk back.  And then out of nowhere, the Hot Dog Dance came on at the end of The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Both girls got up in the living room and started dancing together, laughing with each other, trying to communicate which dance steps are next.

Now, during car rides, they often stare at each other and “talk”, make faces at each other, sing together, and even pass toys and books back and forth.  Just the other day, Julianna had a bag of Pirate’s Booty popcorn and without any prompting, reached out and gave a handful to Chloe.

When my wife was pregnant with Chloe, we always said that these kids were going to be great friends but I didn’t realize that it would happen so soon.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.