The time has come for me to push Manny in the direction of potty training. I know that physically he's ready (can hold his bladder for several hours, doesn't have BM's at night, can take his pants on and off), but I'm not sure that he's emotionally ready.

He's at a very argumentative age. If I say 'yes', he says 'no'. I say 'up', he says 'down'. I've heard that this stage starts to phase out at 3.5 but, I think it's time to get the idea into his head.

I put him in training underwear this morning. They are like regular underwear, except there's extra padding in the crotch so that if he wets himself, there won't be a huge mess (still a mess, but not huge). It's about 1:00 p.m., and things haven't been going so well.

He's had three accidents. I've given him a big glass of juice for breakfast, snack, and lunch. About 10-15 minutes after his drink, I have taken him to the potty. I've been playing games with him while he's on the potty so that he'll stay seated for about 5 minutes, however he refuses to pee in the toilet. It seems as soon as I take him off, that's what he pees.

I'll try and keep this up for a couple of more days to see if he gets the hang of it, but if things keep going the way they have, I may have to suck it up and admit that he's really not ready.