PurpleHeather - your idea is pretty much exactly what we did with our son - there was no pressure or stressing. We started talking about the potty about age 2.5 and how the whole potty worked, where it went, he was fascinated and we drove out to the treatment facility so he could see where it was. We found some cool books on pipe building and laying pipes and that added to the "coolness" of the toilet. He wanted to know where his pooh came from so we found charts and books on the digestive system and he would go around sharing all about where his food went and what it turned into.
My little guy is stubborn beyond belief but with potty training I don't know if it is because we started talking to him months and months before we even brought up him trying and we never, ever pushed him. We put the job onto him when he was ready. He was potty trained a few months before he turned 3. The chart system was a huge help to us. He was in control of what he wanted to do without us pushing and before he knew it, he had trained himself. I know with some kids, the more anxiety placed on them, it can cause their little systems to shut down and not go. We also used cheerios for our little guy to use as target practice and he always went in the big toilet, we just got a special kid seat that went over the top of it so he didn't fall in :-)
