Random conversations with Joel

Tonight, I had to bring Joel to the hospital for a blood test. He was running a high fever, so our doctor wanted him to be checked for an infection. He was a very brave boy and did a good job getting his blood drawn. As we were pulling out of the driveway, we were talking about how people had come to look at our house today and how they might want to buy it. He looked up at our townhouse and said, "They will have to cut it." I said, "Huh? What do you mean, Joel?" He replied, "They will only want our house, so they will have to cut it off." I suddenly realized Joel associated buying something with taking it home, so he was picturing the buyers of our house cutting our townhouse off from the rest of the building and bringing it home with them. I tried to explain how they would come and live here instead of moving the house, but his next question was, "How will they bring it home, daddy? How will they move it?" I explained again, and this time I think he got it. Once he understood they would come to live HERE, he said, "But they will play with my trains, Daddy! I don't want them to have all my trains!"

We drove past some train tracks on the way to the hospital and Joel said, "Look, I see a port-o-potty, Daddy! Do you see it? If the people on the train have to go pee pee, the train can pull right up to it, Daddy. And then the people can go and they won't have to pee in their pants!" (that is honestly verbatim Joel-speak right there) I chuckled to myself as I imagined a train full of morning commuters and the conductor announcing, "OK everyone, we're coming up to the port-o-potty now, so who has to go pee pee? Come on now, we don't want you to pee your pants."

After Joel had his blood drawn, he was upset about the bandages on his arms. But afterwards, I gave him a "special treat" to help calm him down and make him forget the trauma. It was a Thomas toy/movie combo, and he was very excited about it. He even said, "I already like my band-aids, Daddy, at first I didn't like them, but now I like them." Here's a picture of Joel's new Thomas toy (which is actually a bulldozer named "Jack") and you can see the bandage on his arm, from where his blood was drawn.