Potty Fear

I haven't even blogged about it b/c it's been so quick  and came right at the end of school when I was impossibly busy.  I really wish I knew exactly when it was, maybe I could look back, but Gage began potty training himself randomly one week at school (about 5 weeks ago).  His teachers would always ask him and he would always say no, we'd always ask him here and figured since he was just 2 and a half we'd not push it and when he said no, we didn't force it.  He often peed on the potty before bath, but with little consistency. 

One day at school, they asked him and he complied and did it all day long that day.  He thought he was such a big boy!  The next day was the same, and although sometimes he woke up from nap wet, he always went when they put him on the potty.  He started doing the same for us, when we offered it to him and by the end of the week, his teacher told us to go out and buy him underwear.  I thought that was a little extreme, he had barely gotten through one week and we hadn't even used Pull Ups yet.  She insisted that unless he felt wet he wouldn't know when he had an accident.  I think we held off one more week and bought Pull Ups instead.  After a small pack of Pull Ups and the teachers' insistence, I finally broke down and bought Yo Gabba Gabba! and superhero underwear. They were soo teeny tiny, yet one of the sets didn't even fit Gage's tiny hiney and they were size 2T/3T.  Anyway, one morning a few weeks back we put a pair of big boy undies on him and sent him off to school, thinking they could deal with his numerous accidents.  We were still pretty skeptical after just a few weeks.  The 1st two days Gage had one accident each, one when he was playing and one when he was waiting in line for the potty.  Apparently, he was pretty upset about these and didn't enjoy being wet....so that was all it took.  He hasn't had an accident since.  Yes, we still put him in Pull Ups for nap time and a diaper at night and he doesn't always wake up dry, but we're making progress in the day time with little to no effort.  We still ask/remind Gage every few hours if he has to go, but he usually tells us and his teachers at school.  That part was a success...

Which brings me to our next obstacle.  Gage was happily peeing in the potty and on one occasion even pooped but typically Gage is a morning or nap pooper and quite often he would poop in the morning and that was it for the day.  He always had a diaper on so it wasn't a problem.  One day two weeks back when he didn't poop in the morning, we we wondering how it would all play out that evening/afternoon since he wasn't used to pooping in the potty.  We feared the w/holding would begin and we were right on.  For 4 days he didn't go.  Finally we had opted for prune juice and although he didn't like it, he pooped on the potty!  I won't go into detail, but let's just say it was obvious he was backed up.  Anyway, we tried to make a huge deal about it in hopes it wouldn't happen again.  A few days later, only about 2 this time, we promised to take him for ice cream if he would poop on the potty.  We were on vacation but if I remember correctly, we spent quite a bit of time that day on the potty trying to coax him.  Finally he told us he had to go and success!  Ice cream it was.....and for some reason that was the end of it.  Not once since then has he pooped on the potty.  He is pooping at night in his diaper or after nap so he is going, but just not as regularly as before.  Semi-success....

This brings me to my post title.  The above portion of potty training could've been much worse than it was.  W/holding is relatively  normal and we would get through that, but then all of a sudden we hit ANOTHER wall, one that seemed to frustrate me SO much more.  On the way to the beach (5 hour drive) we stopped several times b/c both Mommy and Gage needed a break, Gage went to the potty every time we stopped and we had no accidents.  On the way back, we weren't so lucky.  Now I'm not sure if  Luke took him in one time and the loud flush scared him, he got sprayed or what, but now my kid REFUSES to potty in public.  He keeps asking if it's going to be loud. I assure him it's not and we were able to move on, until the ride home...he held for 3-4 hours b/c he was too scared to go.  I'm afraid he's going to give himself a UTI or something.  Then on Sat. night we took him to a baseball game and the same thing, he hardly would even sit down, he wouldn't go before we left so we stopped at a McDonald's on the way home thinking he might be more comfortable, but nothing.....On Sunday we went out shopping and again NOTHING, we knew he had to go since he was prancing around the store holding himself, but he refused.  We had talked about getting a travel potty, but I was hoping that'd be only for long trips but that we could get him to go if there was a bathroom available.  I honestly was so upset, I put him on the potty and he just screamed and covered his ears and begged to get off.  It was heartbreaking but seemed also to be irrational at the same time.  I told him we'd put him back in diapers and he agreed.  Then Daddy broke down and bought a travel potty, since we were at BRU anyway and he happily used it in the back of the car......geez.  So who knows?  That's where we're at right now and we'll keep trying but not sure what we can really do. I have read lots about the auto flush toilets but I don't think that's the problem, I'm not really sure what it is, but I guess we'll just keep on trying.  Any suggestions are welcome?!?