Eli and I have been reading Else Holmelund Minarik’s A Kiss for Little Bear quite a bit lately; also, for the most part unrelated, we have been talking about ways to solve conflicts. Hence the following dialogue:

Me: Eli, can I have a kiss?
Eli: No.
Me: No? Why not?
Eli: Let’s talk about it.
Me: OK, let’s talk about what’s nice and not nice about giving kisses. What’s nice?
Eli: It’s sweet.
Me: Yeah, and it make a person feel loved.
Eli: And it’s bee-tiful.
Me: Yes, and …
Eli: And it’s happy! And houses!
Me (momentarily stymied by that one, so moving on): So what’s not nice about giving a kiss?
Eli: I don’t know! Here a kiss!