I must admit, it is much easier to do boot camp when you are using a subcontractor (aka pre-school) to handle the daytime shift. By last night, John and I were catatonic in bed with the efforts of the weekend, still with no successful potty trip resulting from our efforts.
So armed with 10 pairs of underwear, 7 clean changes of shorts, and 3 clean changes of socks, I dropped Jack off this morning to a courageously upbeat Ms. Claudia who took charge. I picked him up at 4pm with a sack full of wet underwear, a sack full of wet shorts, and perhaps a missing pair of socks that got flushed down the toilet for all I know. Claudia said he continues to be enthusiastic about going to the potty, but does not want to pee when he gets there. "But keep on trying and he'll make the connection" she cheered to me as I exited, laundry and toddler in tow.
So tonight, we had potty time before we went to out for dinner. Then we braved the toilets at Lowe's while John returned some items. Jack kept repeating "I need potty" but really just wanted to experience the motion detector sink in the bathroom, which we did. We got home and sat down for some potty time and Jack pulled up his new little table we bought him for reading books on the potty. I settled in with a gardening catalog, expecting the usual 20 minutes with no results. As I checked out the new fall plantings, a stream of yellow gushed up over the table and onto my legs. Apparently, it flowed forth so strong that it completely jumped the pee deflector and shot up in the air.
After initial screams of "Help!" to John, we sang and cheered Jack for his accomplishment, and offered him a further bribe of 4 yogurt raisings, reinforcing there was an endless supply of these should he continue to find success on the pot. Jack celebrated by climbing in the bathtub and promptly peeing on the wall.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Jack helped his parents this weekend in redoing a fence around their vegetable garden. Down came the old deer netting and up went a beautiful post and wire fence to protect against all kinds of critters getting Jack's yummy veggies. Jack helped out by digging holes in the dirt and thoroughly testing the doors in and out of the garden (conclusion: they work). Finally he swept the patio area with his broom. 
After a hard day's work, time to pack it in! 
All I can say is, John and I got our a**es kicked today. Always one step behind Jack. We had Jack in underwear and would take him to the potty about every 20 minutes. Inevitably, he would sit on the potty for 10 minutes , get off, put on his underwear, then promptly pee in his undies 5 minutes later. In one 20 minute interval, he went through three pairs of underwear. At one point he peed so strongly in his undies that he created a stream straight though the cloth and onto his cabinet doors on the side of the train table. 
We must spell out T-H-O-M-A-S when we speak about him lest we rouse too much excitement in the little Jackelope when it is not playtime. Jack now has a routine in which he must bring three train cars with him to bed. He carefully tucks them under the sheets below his feet. And apparently thier presence is the vital panacea we have been searching for because he NO LONGER CRIES WHEN WE LEAVE THE ROOM AS LONG AS YOU-KNOW-WHO IS THERE.
Jack spent this weekend in Dallas for his grandmother's 70th birthday. We had a big bash to celebrate. But we also celebrated his cousin's 7th birthday. Grayson had a great party complete with massive inflatable waterslide set up in the backyard. Jack was a bit nervous but took the plunge with Daddy and was then ready to try it on his own. Here he is, heading down the slide, a wee bit out of control. 
On another note Jack arrived without swimsuit to wear so he borrowed one of his cousin Katy's swim diapers. I have to say, I don't think pink is Jack's best color but he seemed to wear it well and even develop a bit of a strut wearing his Dora swimwear around. Sassy! 
