My 3 Year Old Gardener

I have a poinsettia plant that has suffered greatly since Christmas; it has maybe 4 of it's red leaves left. (The red part of poinsettia's are actually not petals of a flower but red bracts or leaves - one of those little tidbits I learned in Botony class in college.) Jonah has occasionally given the diminishing plant notice. Today, I threw out my cut Tulips as they were drooping terribly. In the process, I dropped several orange petals on the floor. Jonah collected a few and asked to keep them. Then he compared them to the few red leaves on the dreary poinsettia and said he like the poinsettia better. I kind of interpreted that to mean he preferred the color red over orange, but I'm not sure. He then takes the petals and puts them on the toy work bench in his room and then asks if he can have the poinsettia too. I asked him if we wanted to take care of the plant and if he could do a better job than mommy. He didn't answer as he didn't really know what I meant. He then took it into his room and added it to his workbench next to the tulip petals. I told him that he needs to take care of it and give it water. Then he says, "And apple juice." I said, "No, just water." Then he says, "And milk." Again I said, "No, just water." I think we went back and forth a couple of times like this until I restated things as clearly as I could, "Milk and Apple juice could hurt the plant. Jonah can have milk and apple juice, but the plant just wants water." He then pressed me to give it water, as I was busy cleaning up the kitchen. I finally got around to it at bedtime. (thus it's current state). I did notice that it has a couple of new leaves, though. Perhaps Jonah's interest will help it endure a bit longer.