Bedtime Woes

Why is it that everytime you think you've mastered something as a parent, your child decides to knock you down a peg? A couple of months ago, we felt pretty pleased with our bedtime routine. Monte would give Evelyn a bottle (we know, we know, she needs to be off this. She only has one at bedtime, no other time of day though) say goodnight and lay her down. She rolled over onto her tummy (yes, she IS old enough to safely sleep this way) and drifted off to a sleep that lasted until morning. While he was doing that, Charlotte and I would brush teeth, have a cup of water and read 2 or 3 books and I would tell her one story. Then I said, "I love you, see you in the morning" and left the room. That was that. 7:30 and we had the rest of the evening to ourselves. Bliss.
Flash forward to last night. Evelyn didn't want anything to do with her bottle, screamed and wanted to get down. She picked a few books for Monte to read. He read the books and then tried to rock her. No, she screamed, pointed to the door. Rocking her was obviously not going to happen, so he gave her the choice, "either I rock you or you go in your bed." Her answer to this was simply, "NO!" So he put her in the crib. She screamed and screamed and screamed. It was a little after 8 at this point. I was in the other room trying to get Charlotte down. We read 3 books, then I told her 2 stories. "Mommy, please, rock me." So I say, "Ok, I will rock you one time then I am leaving." I put her back in bed she jumps up. Luckily, she won't actually get out of her bed. We haven't figured this one out yet, but this is one thing I'm glad about regarding bedtime. I tell her a story at the door that ends with, "and her Mommy left the room and closed the door, the end." I went out quickly and she began to scream. So I head downstairs and Monte and I sit and listen to 2 screaming children. Mind you, we have never been the kind to let the kids "cry it out" but we realize we might have to do it. We lasted about 10 minutes. We each took turns trying to rock Evelyn, no luck. Just hysterical crying that ended up with her being plopped back in her crib. Charlotte is still crying, so finally I go into her room and lay with her for a bit to try to calm her down. It's after 9 now and Evelyn finally decides to give up the fight and sleep. I lay with Charlotte for about 30 minutes. She's still awake. Finally I try my escape, "I have to go to the bathroom." She says, "OK, but don't close the door." so I leave the door cracked and leave the room. Yes, I realize it was a lie. I did kind of have to go to the bathroom...
Yes, they are finally asleep. Or not. Monte goes up about 10 and there is Charlotte just sitting on the end of her bed with her legs over the edge. "Daddy, sleep with me." So he did. That's what it finally took. She fell asleep about 10:30 and Monte did too. I could hear him snoring from her room.
Today I had to deal with a very grumpy 2 year old, so I hope tonight is a little less stressful for everyone.