Here is my story:
By my son Daniel's third birthday, we were all really ready for him to be potty trained, but he wasn't. He would neither go pee-pee nor poo-poo. NOTHING AT ALL!! I am talking about a very smart kid that knew how to count to 10 at 18 months, and could sing his ABC's by 2 1/2. So, as a parent, I expected this to be no different. WRONG!!
He became very ill after his 3rd birthday. It was three weeks of vomiting and diarreah and it ultimately put him in the hospital. Needless to say all of our potty training efforts were completely ditched during this time. The doctors said it could take a month or two before he GI system recoverd and we were told by our doctor to not try potty training for another month at least. A week after his last episold of vomiting and diarreah and NO PRESSURE FROM US, we noticed one day that his diaper was dry all day. At the time, we were worried there was something wrong, but he said, "No, I'm OK. I go in the potty now."
Moral of the story? Encourage them, but don't make a big deal of it like I did.
I think it is possible that so much pressure and expectaions are put on kids to potty train early that it could actually make them afraid to fail.
THE WHOLE GOAL IS TO MAKE IT THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENT, NOT THEIR FAILURE!!! Your kids can't control how soon they go potty any more than they can control how fast they will go through puberty.
I hope you can ditch the diapers soon....
Liz