Has an "accident" as soon as not sitting on potty - not ready? Nearly 3yo

[BumgrapesofWrath]

I've had a couple attempts to train DS2, as to me he seems fully aware of toileting and can communicate very well, and he is 3 later on this month. This latest attempt has come after him not weeing all night in his nappy, so I have assumed he must have some bladder control.

I'm following the Gina Ford potty training method, which involves sitting on the potty every 15 minutes, read a book etc. So this morning I've done this for a couple of hours now, with no wees or poos on the potty. After the last sit on the potty, I went to go and grab a banana out of the kitchen, and DS did the biggest wee ever on the floor. The volume of wee would make me think he has held it for a while. This has happened everytime we have attempted to potty train. He will also sometimes try and force a wee out if on the potty, but again, will have an accident not long after. A lot of these accidents seem to happen as soon as I am out of the room - is he holding it until I'm gone?

So if he is weeing after sitting on the potty, does this mean he isn't quite ready? Or is it that he maybe doesn't actually want to do it on the potty (he is a willful child.)

The reason this is so odd to me, is DS1 decided at 2.5 to take his nappy off, and was fully trained in 48 hours with minimal accidents - I would have to say I hardly trained him at all. I suppose I don't understand why this doesn't seem to have happened yet with DS2 (whose communication and understanding seems greater than DS1s at the same age.)

Do I go back to nappies again? I do feel less relaxed this time round as it just seems like a totally different ball game from the first time round.

I suppose I felt relaxed enough to let DS1 do it himself, but I guess with DS2 being 6 months older I wonder if I'm failing him as a parent if I don't actively try and train him.

Any thoughts?

[BumgrapesofWrath]

Bumping for evening crowd.

[trilbydoll]

DD definitely learnt how to hold it a lot earlier than she figured out how to let it go iyswim. So I could have sat her on the potty for days but she wouldn't have been able to wee! Has he ever done a wee on the potty?

She's potty trained now but still can't (or won't) wee unless she really needs to. Which tbh is really inconvenient a lot of the time!

[MrsUnderwood]

My DD was holding poo- she has had some chronic constipation in the past and I think she was scared to go because she was afraid of it hurting. She was also a bugger for waiting til I had left the room to do one in her pants.

Are you offering rewards for success? We found chocolate to be a powerful motivation for going on the potty.