Bedtime Battles

Beckett has slept through the night since he was 4-months old. It was amazing and wonderful for a sleep deprived set of parents like us. Over the last 2 years and 4 months, we've had our ups and downs (sitting in his room until he fell asleep, waking up to find him asleep in our bed, and even night terrors) but nothing could prepare us for what started a couple of weeks ago. We have been at our wits end at bedtime. We have a pretty good bedtime routine - bath, PJ's, brush teeth, read books (or watch 1 show) and then bedtime. However, when we put him down for bed now, there is inevitably a tantrum that occurs. At first, several weeks ago, he only asked for extra things - a glass of water, rub my back, etc. Then, it was getting up every 5 minutes. Now, it's screaming. We've tried a number of tactics - take away privileges (i.e. the door being open, the music in his room, etc.), not engaging him when he has a fit, putting a baby gate in his door, closing his door, allowing him to fall asleep on his floor on the hall. And every night, it's the same thing - screaming and tantrums. It really can wear on a person after awhile. I'm also quite sure that it's affecting Katie and me. We went to visit Candyce's class today. She's a local parenting and child development expert. We just wanted to listen to other parents of 3-year olds and make sure we weren't alone. Thank Goodness, we're not! Normal or not - night after night it gets really draining and I hope that it passes soon. However, from talking to other parents, it sounds like that's just part of having a three-year old. Yea for us!