We’ve started to try and help Joshua understand that there’s such a thing as “bathroom talk.” There’s some stuff that you don’t talk about at the dinner table, like your, umm, bottom, because that’s bathroom talk.

Don’t think he’s getting the picture.

Here’s what happened last week as I was telling Joshua the old, “Knock, knock;” “Who’s there?” “Banana…” joke.

He wanted to get in on the action, so he made up his own jokes. If you’ve ever seen a 4-year-old start doing this, you know that it goes on forever, and that the humor is a pretty quick downward spiral. Here’s an example of how it started to de-escalate into bathroom humor:

Joshua: “Knock, knock.”

Me: “Who’s there?”

Joshua: “Yoda.”

Me (having told him this joke and now heard it 13 times in a row): “Yoda who?”

Joshua: “Yo da man!”

(Hysterical lauging from both of us; mine is mostly fake.)

Joshua: “Knock knock.”

Me: “Who’s there?”

Joshua: “Yoda.”

Me (inwardly groaning): “Yoda who?”

(At this point Joshua pauses. Then he turns and runs down the hall to the bathroom. He opens the door steps inside the threshhold.)

Joshua (Now yelling down the hallway): “Yo da underpants!”

(Real hysterical laughing insues. I know I shouldn’t have, but hey, he took the whole “bathroom humor” thing literally.)