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Sounds like you are making great progress! I knew you were struggling before but great job on getting this far! Do you think maybe you are spending too much time in the bathroom? I know for my LO anytime we try to push it on her, she refuses. Maybe add a reward for using the public washroom and try to be patient. Doing great though!

@irene: could it be related to the loud flushing sounds that a lot of public toilets make?

@irene: We struggled with public toilets for awhile because DD was scared of the loud automatic flushers. It doesn't sound like that is the case for your son though. I know a lot of parents carry around the over the toilet potty seats with them in public, so maybe you can try to do that for awhile until he gets more comfortable in public? Maybe having that familiarity of the potty seat will help him at least go in a public toilet. Not sure how you would resolve the school toilet issue though -- I would just hope that peer pressure would kick in at some point as he sees other kids go!

I don't think you can call your son potty trained given your run down, you're either day trained or not, and it sounds like your son is not trained, sorry!

What I would do is timed intervals. You go out, you find a bathroom, you bring him there. You can stand him on the toilet, so he doen't have to sit, no big deal. Also, ditch the pull ups. They are crutch and it delays things.

@irene: yeah, I agree, you would have to train him to use that travel potty, so I would go with the lesser of two evils approach, and use public restrooms. Bring him in there when you go, show him what it's all about without having him actually use it.

Are you trying to make him go every single time you're out? Like, if you go to the grocery store are you taking him? LO doesn't potty every time we go out, and she'll hold it for a long time to avoid the public potty (she is particular about which public potties she will use). If they're able to hold it through an outing, I don't see why you need to press the issue right now. Of course, that doesn't solve the school issue. I wold definitely talk to the school about pull-ups being a crutch there.

@irene: I think if I were in your shoes I would stop pushing it when you're out. Remind him to tell you when he needs to go and maybe only stop at a potty every few hours. An accident sucks, but so does potty refusal. Like a pp, my LO hates it when you force certain things and public toilets are on of them. She will try at church, the pool, and CFA on occasion. A park bathroom when she was desperate. She will hold it for 6 hours or more sometimes until she finds a toilet she seems suitable. I don't think it's a big problem that she has a preference right now. Eventually she'll get over it. Maybe he needs a few more accidents out of the house to realize what's going on.

Irene: what about these underwear? We used them before I was comfortable ditching pull ups.

http://www.onestepahead.com/Bath-and-Potty/Potty-Training/The-Smarter-Potty-Training-Pants.pro?fpi=109864&catCd=2W&prefixCode=2W

LO does great at home and school but out in public is still kinda hard. She says she needs to go but changes her mind a lot when she gets in the stall...maybe 1 out of 4/5 trips results in pee. I really want to get her comfortable with it since holding pee is bad!