Do you think he's Asperger's? Maybe a book on Aspie's in relationships would help, or if you visit some of their websites, you could find some direction. It sounds like you won't be able to keep on saying, try this, then try this! But the solution-oriented sounds Aspie to me, engineering computer type brain (like me). So he might actually enjoy learning about it. Like taking the Aspie tests online. Simon Cohen is SO smart (I wonder about his clown cousin Sascha though!).