My 3-year-old flat out refuses to potty train. It's not that he can't. He just won't.

Yesterday morning I saw a urine-soaked diaper in the trash can in his room. Now, that trash can's sole purpose is for Kleenex tissues and the occasional piece of drawing paper. I never put diapers in there. I keep the Diaper Pail in the garage so as not to stink up the house.

I asked my 6-year-old daughter how the diaper got there. She said J. put it in there, then went into the cabinet where I keep clean diapers and put on a fresh one.

HE CHANGED HIS OWN DIAPER!!!

If he can do all that...we're talkiing multiple physical and cognitive steps here...then WHY CAN'T HE USE THE DOGGONE TOILET!!??!!

Then to add insult to injury, last night I was lotioning him down after his bath and he peed on the bedroom carpet right in front of me. Now I had JUST TAKEN him to the toilet, which I do before every bath for obvious reasons.

What's up with that?

J. seems to be in discovery mode. In the kids' bathroom we have those soft, stuffed vinyl toilet seats and lids.

The other day as 3-year-old J. was lowering the lid after doing his thing, it gently brushed up against his ... er ... you know... and he started giggling and saying, "It tickles" and lowering the lid up and down, up and down...

And so it begins.

I guess I should be grateful he puts the lid down at all, but then, being the sole male in a house full of females, he must intuitively know failure to do so could be life threatening.