those who want a baby

We had the blessing of hosting a friend's baby for an evening recently. Baby Joel was a big hit with everyone. Hard to beat a sweet guy who loves eating pinto beans and avocados in the chair next to us. He was so darn cute, and brought back great memories of my little guys when they were... well, littler. :)

Ever since that evening, the boys have talked about "Baby Joel" and how much they wanted to keep him. Obi-1 thinks it would be great fun to have his own "Baby Joel." He reminds me, at least once a day, that he wants a baby and he wants to name the baby Joel. It seems inconsequential to my 3-year old that names might differ for a baby girl or boy; the name must be Joel. Evidently all cool babies are Joel.

So, it shouldn't have surprised me that he brought it up this evening when Grandma came over. Obi-1 filled her in on all the events of the week, and ended his stories with this: "Hey Grandma - I'm going to name my baby Joel."

Grandma, only half-listening until the word baby entered the conversation, replied, "What was that?"

"We're going to get a baby, and I'm going to name my baby Joel."

I entered the room at about this point in the conversation. Obviously quite excited, Grandma turned to me and said, "WHAT was that?"

"Oh, we watched my friends' baby last weekend. The boys have been saying they want a baby Joel ever since that evening." I knew I was delivering disappointment, which meant I had to hold back giggles.

"Oh." Her face fell a bit. "OH."

Grandma, dear, we know you want a baby Joel, too. The thing is, Baby Joel got to go home with his own parents, who were probably up in the middle of the night with him, feeding him, changing his diapers throughout the day, packing a bag full of stuff for every outing, and all of that stuff that goes along with Baby Joels.

We, on the other hand, are headed out on a date. :)