Lost that Loving Feeling

Before you go thinking that my 26 month old child is some kind of potty training prodigy, let me advise you that the fascination of bodily fluids leaving her body and entering the potty has worn off.  Now, Lia is just plain too busy to worry about something as silly as having to go to the bathroom.  Yep.  We are falling off the potty bandwagon.

I was surprised at the beginning of all this with how easy everything was and how interested Lia was in using the potty.  It all seemed so wonderful...  but, in the back of my mind I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It all started to go downhill when she started back at school.  She didn't like the toilet there and was hesitant to use it because it is a "loud noise potty."  The teachers said they wait to flush the potty until after she is gone, but she still has no desire to sit on it.  We saw an increase in the number of accidents and it became obvious that she wasn't ready for undies at school - so, we shifted to pull ups.  Well, just as I suspected, pull ups mean nothing to Lia and to her, it was a diaper.  So her interest and attempts to go potty diminished drastically.  Accidents increased at home too, especially on school days when she switched from pull ups back to undies.  The bathroom started to become a battleground full of bribery ("Lia, if you go potty you get a marshmallow!), various con artist acts ("Lia, show your baby/car/book/sister/camera how you go potty!), and finally to peer pressure from said baby/car/books/sisters/etc (baby is going potty like a big girl!  Can Lia go potty too?).  Most of these efforts worked the first time, but not again.  Instead, I was met with 2 year old defiance and insistence "No Lia have to go potty!" and if I took her word for it thinking "well, maybe she doesn't really need to go...." in the matter of 4 seconds Lia would be reporting "Lia's undies WET."   UGH.  To her credit, she doesn't let loose completely, but rather seems to stop herself midway and then goes to the potty.  So, it isn't an epic mess every time, but it does require at least an undies change.

So now I'm at a loss.  I don't want this to become a major power struggle and up until this week she has been doing really well.  Is this a sign that she is not ready?  Should we go back to diapers and wait a bit to address it again?  Should we continue on this path changing clothes 2-3 times per day and hope that she improves?  Should I let Lia pick if she wants to wear a diaper or undies?  Is there some amazing potty incentive I can try to get her interested again?  I'm perfectly willing to go back to diapers and try again in a couple months, but I don't want to lose ground if this is normal potty training behavior... Admittedly, we started this journey earlier than I expected because she seemed so into it and I did not do any research about this topic.   May be time to start...

I don't often seek advice through the blog, but today I am.  Thoughts?