Progress. I think.

The boys are so excited about going to the fair today that Eddie got up, took his own PJs off and dressed himself. This is a first. I said I needed to take a shower first, so Chas told me to "go, then." OK, kind of amusing. But while I was in the shower, Eddie mysteriously disappeared. I asked him where they went. "Oh, I took them off because they are wet and I peed on them."

"Eddie, why did you pee in your pants?" "Because I was playing in the sandbox."

Now, forgetting that the response made almost no sense, this is something of a breakthrough. "Why did you pee your pants? Why did you throw water out of the tub? Why did you do that incredibly annoying thing?" The answer to these questions has always been the same, maddening thing. "Because I did."

So though playing in the sandbox makes no sense, it's at least the beginnings of a real answer. And perhaps more. Because when I went to retrieve his discarded pants they were... dry. The shorts were, anyway. The underpants had just the slightest damp spot. I looked at them and then at the bare-butted boy sitting happily in his sandbox playing and it occurred to me that his answer may have been freakishly accurate. Is it possible that the boy likes the feel of sand under his naked tushy so much that he would let loose with a tiny amount of urine to justify removing his pants so he could enjoy the gritty pleasures of half-naked sandbox time? This prospect leaves me with conflicting emotions. But I think I'm mostly amused.