Now that the weather’s getting cooler in Southern California, the kids are wearing jackets to go outside. Eleanor wears a periwinkle fleece jacket and Miranda wears a yellow cotton jacket. Both were hand-me-downs from my mom’s friends at church. We’ve been keeping their belongings generally separate since they were born–to try to minimize germ-sharing, and to give them a sense that they are different people. Kids don’t really have a sense of self until about 18 months, so Eleanor and Miranda haven’t really cared about who has which piece of clothing etc. However, we started noticing that Eleanor was growing attached to her jacket. She would try to put it on herself, and failing, would just hold it, even around the house.
A few weeks ago, the kids were with my mom for a few hours while I was at the library preparing a presentation for work. When I got home, my mom was in front of the house with the stroller, about to take the kids to the park. I noticed that Eleanor was pouting, her eyes were red-rimmed, and her face was streaked with tears. Then, I suddenly realized that she was wearing Miranda’s yellow jacket and Miranda was wearing Eleanor’s fleece jacket. My mom asked, “Hey, does Eleanor normally wear the other jacket?”
“YES!!” I answered. Apparently, my mom dressed Eleanor in a Hawaii volcano orange-colored t-shirt, which matched much better with the yellow jacket so she put Miranda’s jacket on Eleanor. Then, as she started to put Eleanor’s jacket on Miranda, Eleanor started complaining, and then tried vigorously to prevent my mom from putting her jacket on Miranda. Then, once Miranda was already dressed, she still kept pulling on the jacket, until Miranda started hitting her back. Anyway, my mom insisted that they stay dressed the way they were, so Eleanor gave up, but was still really upset and sat bitterly in the stroller the whole way to the park.