The Bean, the Bluke & the Schnookie

Joshua was nicknamed "Jumping Bean" from the Fetal Maternal Medicine specialist Dr. Bayliss. Shawn said he thinks every child is nicknamed "bean" in Lancaster County because all babies are the shapes of a bean at some point in their gestation. But, it has stuck for us. And, at 3 lbs at birth, Bean seemed to fit! Little Caleb Luke thought his name was "Brother" at first and then later called himself "Bluke" when we asked his name. So, that's been his nickname. For some reason, I started calling Ryan my little Schnook or Schnookie and it has just stuck. Shawn asked why he doesn't get to weigh in on the babies' nicknames. My response? I have no idea why I started calling him that, but at this point I've done it so much that the boys also call Ryan "schnookie" at times. It's funny for me to hear because I did it kind of mindlessly.

I still remember Cosby's "Kids say the darndest things" and I'm constantly laughing at our little guys'  take on life. Here are some things about their baby brother that I've found comical.

The boys on feeding babies:
Joshua: "Mommies feed babies from their bellies."
Caleb: "Mommies feed their babies from their milk jubs" (spelled with a 'b' since that's how it sounded out of his mouth).

I cracked up! No need to give them the correct terms for now... I don't even think they care for the most part. Joshua has a little baby that he tried to breast feed. Silly goose!

The boys on babies' soiled diapers:
Both boys: "RY-AN!" (at the noise they hear, amongst laughter and talks of loud tooters... they are all boys!)
Joshua: "Babies poop in diapers because their legs are too little to walk them to the potty."
Caleb: "Can I watch as you change his diaper? Is that his poops?" He is fascinated!

The boys on showing affection to babies:
Joshua: "Babies like it when we tickle their toes." So, my mom asked him if he likes his feet tickled (since Ryan obviously gets irritated by people touching his feet), to which Joshua responded "No, but I'm sure I did when I was a baby" (said in a voice like 'duh! he's a baby!'). He also loves to give him kisses, which I will allow as long as I'm watching. He always asks first.
Caleb: "Can I hold your baby?" and when I replied no, he said "I want my OWN baby!"

The boys' on babies' talking/crying:
Joshua: "Babies cry because they can't talk. We need to talk to teach them how to talk."
Caleb: "That baby cries a lot."

The boys on playing with babies:
Joshua: Any time the baby has his eyes open, no matter where they are focused "Look, the baby is looking at me. He loves me!" He also says "I will play with you, Ryan! I'm your big brother!" and the Bean will show him toys and play with his little toys.
Caleb: "He's too little!" or "Put the baby down!" or taking the baby's toy to play with himself. He is interacting more and more with little Ryan, though. He's just not quite as excited as Joshua!


***These pictures are from our photo shoot at Penny's on 7/6/11, scheduled for Ryan's 1-month birthday the following day and Caleb's 3rd birthday in two days. I thought the pictures turned out great, and I spent way too much money buying several!***