It took forever to potty train Trevor. He would pee in the toilet, but was scared to death to poop in it. Don't know why, but one day I caught him getting ready to poop in his underwear. I rushed him to the toilet, and he saw for himself it was so big deal. He felt like such a big boy. Once you get them to do it once. Easy after that. Hope this helps.

Sounds like your little Houdini is quite skillful! She obviously does not want to go in her panties... That's why she removes them. I know you say she is "no where near ready"... but, it sounds like she might be. (I'm no expert... just another Mom whose been there)

Have you tried pull-ups? What about putting a little porta-potty seat in several key rooms of the house? Like her bedroom, the family room, and of course the bathroom. All the same style (keep it simple). And if she take her pants off and takes a squat on the floor rather than the potty, you tell her it's not acceptable behavior and begin whatever discipline process you use (Love and Logic is WONDERFUL). But you will have to be consistant and no matter where you are, the discipline MUST occur. It must become predictable and routine, for lack of a better description.

And big BIG rewards for when she does use it! (my son has MILLIONS of hot wheels from his potty training days!) Have her choose the daily awards! it can be a cookie, a small toy, etc. And if she responds to charts... a big prize for perfect days or weeks. Try involving her in picking out her prizes. If she is not able to tell you, try picture chart. You could even try using pictures of her modeling the process. Take a picture of her dressed, a picture of her taking her pants off, a picture of her holding her pants, a picture of her on her potty with her pants off, and finally a picture of you with the biggest happy face and clapping hands as you can possible make (happy Mommy). Label them 1, 2, 3...
Then laminate them and put them in the rooms with the potties. They can function like a visual scheduler. Then every two hours you walk her through the process. It's a fun potty party! Have her go with you and you use her pictures. Mommy pulls her pants down, mommy sits on toilet, listen to mommy gooo! YEA MOMMY!! And you get a treat!! Then it's her turn.

Just try it! What do you have to lose?? (other than your sanity if things don't change! - and there is only one person you can change 1st... and that's you! and your approach and mindset. Whatever that may be. She'll follow eventually)

After she gets the idea and starts using the potties, you can start inching them toward the bathroom and start eliminating them one by one. At one time you may have one in the bathroom and one on each side of the door leading into the bathroom! LOL But... eventually there will only be the one. Then, you start working on getting her on the big girl toilet! Hopefully the potty you choose will convert to a seat for the toilet (which would be ideal).

yes, those are signs of ready to potty train. you just have to get down and do it. take her every 10-15 minutes and let her sit on the potty and then if she pees or poops anywhere but the potty let her help clean it up with toilet paper and put the pee and poop in the potty and tell her that's where it belongs.
The first day it might be good to just let her sit about half the day on the potty and bring food, drinks, toys, a portable dvd player, anything to keep her entertained and just literally hang out on the potty. Yes, it's exhausting but totally worth it.

We had similar issues with our daughter. We put a leotard under her clothes so she had no access. It's worked wonders.

My daughter is 5 now, she will go pee on the toilet but only if we take her like every 3 hours. She tries to hold it but has no way of telling us when she wants to go, so sometimes we still have accidents. However we can't get her to poop in the toilet. She does it after bedtime in the privacy of her room. We have tried everything to keep her from eating, playing in it and painting her room and carpet. Finally we ended up with leggings or tight sleep pants first and on top of that kind of a ballet suit (onsie without buttons), then we had to saw it together at the waist with the pants under the onsie. On top of that she gets her jamies. We did not have to clean poop of the carpets after that. Migth be worth to try it. It is the only thing Jessy can not get off on her own. Good luck to you!