Backbonejs events syntax on objects

Question

Suppose that I have the following view:

var SampleView = Backbone.View.extend({
    initialize: function() {
        this.child_element = this.$('#new-catalog>button:first');                
    },
    events: {
        'click #new-catalog>button:first': function() { alert('clicked'); },
    },
    el: '#some-element',
});

If you have some non trivial selection for custom children items (like my child_element selected with #new-catalog>button:first, is it possible to avoid redefining it in the events property and instead refer to this.child_element?

Of course I can do this.child_element.on('click', ..., but I'd like to use the provided events dictionary.