The Strong-Willed Child

Here is classic Payt, pirate style. I'm afraid Payt possesses a super power over me. You see, it's awfully hard to say "no" to those big blue eyes and sweet smile. He's a pretty good kid most of the time, so this shouldn't really be a big problem, right? Wrong. We have been trying and trying and trying to get Payt to be interested in potty training. He IS almost 3. Here's how one of these conversations might go:

Me: "Payt, do you want to use the potty?"
Payt: "No."
Me: "Did you know all your friends use the potty?"
Payt: "Yes."
Me: "Don't you want to be a big boy like your friends and your brother?"
Payt: "I little."

The conversation continues and Payt never relents. He did finally agree that he wanted to wear big boy underwear. So, I went out and got him some Cars underwear. He was pumped about wearing them today, but let me tell you how that went.

9 am: Put big boy underwear on
9:15: try to potty
9:30: try to potty
9:45: "Daddy, I go potty in my underwear" (and it's more than just potty...)
clean underwear and trips to the potty every 20-30 minutes after the accident
2:45 (approx. 5 minutes after last trip to try the potty): Major pee accident in the underwear
nap and playing, trips to the potty every 15 min. after nap
5 pm: Time to go to a birthday party. No way Daddy is going to deal with this at the party- diaper goes on. Payt wets the diaper.

Now, I've tried everything. I'm bribing him with M&Ms to go potty, I try turning the water in the bathtub on. He has a bladder of steel for a small child and the pure will NOT to use the potty. He has used it before, but very randomly, and definitely not if he's asked to. I guess I will give up and try again later. The 2-year-old wins again.