Lane and I were sharing a piece of pie at my computer desk while Michael sat near us in his high chair coloring with a blue crayon.

"Michael" She says casually, "Don't eat the crayon. We can eat the pie, we can eat bleach, but we don't eat crayons."

"Elaine!" I admonished her, turning away from whatever work I was doing at the computer. "Don't tell him that!"

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because it's not true! You can't eat bleach, but we can eat the pie, we can eat the cat food and we can eat the pine-sol, and no, we can't eat the crayon."

"I see," She said, nodding a few times before going back to picking at the pie.

Nobody did ever take the crayon away from Michael.