I’ve been peed on, puked on, and am snotted on regularly in my preschool classroom.  I’ve become familiar with the signs of impending leakage, and spend a good part of my day offering tissues instead of my pants leg and asking if someone has to use the potty. I’ve even been known to say, “You wouldn’t want it to come out in your pants,” as I hustle a kid away from their block building to the bathroom down the hall.

I get it – these guys, until recently, didn’t have to stop to pee. Digging in the sand box or pedaling a trike in the gym, diapers meant they could do their business while still tending to the busy work of toddlerhood.  Underwear changed all that, and some are still figuring out that peeing should really be separate from all the other fun they’re having in preschool. Sometimes they just need a reminder, to stop what they're doing, and go.

I’m familiar with repetitive shorts-yanking, I recognize the pee dance - that foot-to-foot hop which progresses to bent-knees and clutching - and have heard all sorts of dodges from reluctant potty-goers.

So this week when I spotted a kid at the sand table pulling at himself I asked if he needed to use the bathroom.

“No,” he replied, and went on pushing a truck through the sand.

“Well, I noticed you keep touching yourself,” I said.

He stopped pushing the truck and looked up at me.

“I don’t have to pee,” he explained, “My penis is just sticking to my balls.”

Now that’s one I hadn’t heard before.