Katherine and I have recently embarked (successfully) on that unholy voyage of mother and daughter in which the former teaches the latter about the proper use of the lavatory and the former devises every excuse in the book for maintaining the status quo (diapers).

We’re almost to the end now, but there was one particular phenomenon that had me completely flumouxed.

Each time she went to the potty, she insisted that she change clothes afterwards. The clothes were never wet or soiled as she was more than sufficiently competent, but each time she required a complete new set of clothes. I went along with it because, hey, she can dress herself and refolding clothes was less disagreeable than changing diapers. Still, I was mystified.

She got up in the morning, went to the potty, changed, had breakfast, did whatever activity was ongoing, went to the potty, changed, had a bite to eat, hung out for a while, went to the potty, changed, etc. What the….?

Then I figured it out. It was John.

He gets up in the morning, gets Katherine up, goes to the bathroom, shaves, changes from pyjamas to work clothes, eats, goes to the bathroom again, puts on outerwear, goes to work, comes home, goes to the bathroom, changes out of work clothes, etc.

In her mind, every time he goes to the bathroom, he changes clothes.

His face when I told him was priceless.