Claire has a best friend. His name is Emmett. His mother and I met in pre-natal yoga and since we had essentially the same due date, we bonded over our synchronized gestation. Once our bumps became babes, we continued our friendship and would meet at least once a week to walk around Chambers Bay and compare notes on everything from sleep schedules to nursing. Side note: you can't get new moms together without nursing dominating the conversation. With three nursing moms in the family last summer, the poor husbands/nephews/father-in-law had to suffer through several awkward family bonfires.
As time went on, I realized that Kalissa (aka Emmett's mom) and I had pretty similar parenting philosophies, which made having each other to bounce ideas off  of even more useful. So while having a friend who was/is going through an identical phase of parenting was great, I completely underestimated the budding friendship that was forming between Claire and Emmett.
Around 3 months, we finished a particularly tough walk and decided to rest in the shade before we headed home. We held the babies up to each other so they could take a good look and they instantly started grabbing each other and grinning. Since they were so young, we were surprised at how "into" each other they were. If I remember correctly, we told our husbands about it and we both got that "oh, I'm sure they were" smile that proud moms often get. But we weren't imagining things. They were totally drawn to each other from a bizarrely young age. Maybe they were bonding in our bellies while we were busting out the downward facing dog (which is ridiculously difficult in the third trimester and quite the sight to see). Whatever the reason, they have always had a special relationship and while their gender differences have been apparent from a really early age (Emmett in constant "flight" mode and Claire generally preferring to be a part of the conversation) they still smile from ear to ear and squeal with glee every time they see each other.

Luckily, both Kalissa and I aren't shy about photographing our children's every move, so we've capture a lot of Claire and Emmett moments over the last year. 

Here is one of their early interactions. Proof that we weren't making it up!

 Then a few from their matching Adidas track suit photoshoot.

Telling each other jokes at Claire's birthday.

    

Post race cool-down after the Sound to Narrows Diaper Dash.

And a few from the Tot-Lot yesterday. 

Claire loves her "Em-eet" (which sometimes loses the t sound and turns into Emmy) and I have no doubt that they'll be buddies in the years to come.