Where do they learn this stuff? And, where not to buy your gas!!

Pictures from today:

Momma and Little Bug at the zoo- although you can't see that. Little Bug on the train at the zoo- the end of our morning
Little Bug's wing span would be less than 3 feet if he would put his arms out, but he was not into the posing for the photo at this point.
Checking out tents at Bass World. he really like this one- it is a kid's tent. I might have to consider it for a Christmas present, since I would like to take him camping- but....
The kid's sleeping bag is probably more likely to be on his Christmas list as I have a tent that sleeps two, but no sleeping bags.
So, on to the reason for my question in the title:

Tonight, Little Bug actually asked to go to bed (warning sign number million or one depending on how you are counting). He willing went into the crib- not that he does normally go willingly, just he is not so eager to go into the crib. He spent the next 40 minutes yelling down the hall that he had to "pee-pee". When I checked him, dry as a when I put the diaper on him. When I did not get him out of bed immediately, he started screaming and crying. This went on for 25 minutes before I took him out of bed, put him on the potty and he proceeded to NOT pee-pee. So back to the crib and he started it all again. This time, I left him in there and just told him I loved him and it was bed time. He asked about Mam and Pap and if we could go in the car to see them- answer from evil Momma- "Buenas Noches, te amo". He finally fell asleep.
So where does this ability to play me come from- are toddlers born knowing how to push their parents' buttons to get what they want? In this case, Momma to get Little Bug out of the bed. I ma just curious.

I believe that I caused it today- we started the day with underwear on!!! every 5 minutes, a little voice told me he had to "pee-pee" and I took him down the hall to the potty and praised him for going on the potty. Warning sign number one: he said he had to go when what he wanted was momma to play on the new rug with him.
We made an impromptu trip to the zoo, like I decided 5 minutes before we walked out the door that we were going. So I put a pull up on him, gathered the diaper bag and we headed out for a few hours. He stayed dry the entire time. Before we left the zoo, I put a diaper back on him as I knew he was going to fall asleep in the car on the way home. Sure enough, he was out in 5 minutes.
He gotten woken up when I stopped for gas and had to take him out of the car to attempt to get something corrected- see way below for those details. He was wet when I got home, but I changed him and we had lunch and he continued the every 5 minutes of needing to go. Please note, that if he said that and then did nothing, he was not praised, but was encouraged. So seconds later, he would have to go again and would go. He has total control of his bladder when he wants to have to control.
We headed over to Mam and Pap's in the afternoon and then out to shop for shoes for the Little Bug. He does not ask to go when we are out with Mam and Pap. We then headed to the Bass Pro Shop so Pap could buy something and Little Bug was fascinated with the tents. He was a riot with them- he thought they were the coolest things around. Basically, my parents walked toward one area and Little Bug refused to go past the tents cause they were cool. My parents came back toward us about 15 minutes later wondering where we had gone. Ah, toddlers and their fascinations with things.
So back to the going issue. When we got home, Little Bug played for a while inside, then we headed out to the porch and he saw the neighbors out, so we headed over and he played with the 4 year old across the street while us Moms (that is so cool to write) talked. I finally took him back inside when it got time for him to go to bed, but he needed a bath first and then a bottle and then he asked to go to bed and it all broke loose.

So experienced parents- how do you encourage your child to potty train but at the same time not cater to the pottying at night when they are diapered? He is not ready to potty train over night- he does not have control at night. He has control during the day. I want to encourage him to be potty trained, but at the same time, I do not want this to be an issue at bedtime. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Where not to buy your gas if you live in the area:

So my horror story of buying gas. I stopped at the BP station at Colerain and Galbraith. I pulled up to the pump and got out, swiped my credit card and the pump authorized. While I was filling the tank, the lady in front of me starting talking to me. She told me that she could not get the pump to work and had moved up to the pump she was now at. She continued to have trouble with that pump and she went inside to talk to the clerk. I was getting my receipt when she came out and when I glanced at it, I saw that my credit card numbers (the last 4 digits) were not on the receipt- other numbers were. So I asked the lady what her last 4 digits were. Sure enough, her card was charged for my gas. I told her, we would go inside and talk to the clerk so that the sale would be taken off her card and I would pay for my gas. I had to get Little Bug out of the car, which required me to wake him up. We went in and talked to the clerk, she did not know what to do (void the first sale and re-ring it under my card- how hard is that?). She called the "supervisor" up from the back room. The supervisor proceeded to tell me that it was my mistake, I need to pay the woman cash for the gas and that was all she was going to do. Excuse me- it was my fault that the machine said I could pump gas after I swiped my card- how would I know that another card was in the system? She then proceeded to tell me that I could use my credit card and get cash because it was XXX bank's card. No, I can not get cash on my credit card- it is a credit card not a check card/debit card. I used a credit card for a reason. Then she went back to telling us it was my fault and we were just stuck. When I asked for her manager's name and number, she said sure she would give it to me and that she was going to call the manager right away and let her know what had happened. When I got home and finally got through on the number, the supervisor had given me the number to the gas station and I would have to call back on Monday after 10 am to talk to the manager.
Well, BP has already gotten an email from me about this total lack of customer service. I will be calling tomorrow and Monday to get the manager's number. I will not be shopping at that BP ever again and I will go out of my way to avoid BP in the future until this is resolved appropriately. I would encourage all of you to avoid this BP too- they are willing to screw over the customer just to avoid doing their job.
I did take a check over to the lady's house- she was so sweet- I gave her my telephone number and she gave me her information. When I saw the address, it was right on the way to my parents house, so I knew that I would the money to her in the afternoon. She was so understanding and really appreciated my honesty, I appreciated her willingness to wait until the afternoon. She said she is going to complain too.
Well, that is our day. Tomorrow starts bright and early.

Love to you all,
Momma Bug