Don't press my buttons

Not surprisingly, Joel is interested in interacting with computers...which causes me to fear for the damage he might deal to them...  So, it's great that he recently came up with a computer that doesn't cause that kind of fear in me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJt4KyYIo8Q

Mommy, can I talk to you?

Today, for the first time, Joel said to me:  Mommy, can I talk to you?  He then, again for the first time, told me a story. 

(I've recently been able to prompt him with "Then what happened" over and over again to lead him to telling me something like a story, but this was the first time that it was a monologue.)

He said he went somewhere and saw a few things...I think there was a cow...and then he said I saw a rooster...and it bit me!  It was a short sequence of things he told me.  So, I'm surprised I can't remember more of it, and I wish I could.

The feel of the story was very similar to the one he's been having me repeat over and over again.  I was finding that I could keep him from getting into something I didn't want him to by telling him about some fairly mundane things that happened to me that day...and he'd look at me very intently and become very engaged in what I was saying...  So, one day, I told him this story.  I was walking Quartz...and I saw that coming behind us, there was another dog.  So, I crossed the street.  But, Quartz got scared anyway.  So, I pulled him towards Nancy's house...and Nancy's cat felt trapped...and it went "hiss."

So, "Mommy, were you walking Quartz?" is an oft heard question these days, and it's his way of requesting the telling of this story.