Calling on all my mommy bloggy friends!! Sleep help!!

Well let me precursor this whole discussion by stating what an amazing, amazing sleeper I have had until Hannah hit two years old. She slept through the night from 8 weeks onwards and we have loved every minute of it, so maybe this is payback, maybe this is what I get for having such a great sleeper. She turned two and forgot how to sleep? or decided it wasn't fun? she didn't need it? or perhaps she's having bad dreams, or maybe she's scared of the dark? maybe she doesn't like to be by herself? I dunno, but we have been doing back flips trying to get her to sleep happily and soundly all night.


So let me set the stage for you, Hannah's current bedtime routine consists of having a sippy cup of warmed milk (she doesn't like it cold and we are going with it) while she watches Micky Mouse Clubhouse. Then we say good night to all the animals and head to bed ( and this step cannot be missed without much protest from Hannah - she needs to say good night to each and every one of them). We then read a short bedtime themed story book (every other night as on bath nights we don't read as I think it's too much stimuli - she likes to point out all the animals and things on the page). We then kiss her and her Mickey and Minnie and put on Tad (lullaby frog), turn off the lights and close the door. Here's where it gets fun, she gets out of bed and goes to the door and cries and screams and looks under the door for as little as 15 minutes to 2 hours depending on how long it takes her to fall asleep there. It's pure torture a) I hate hearing her cry it physically hurts me and b) she's sleeping at the door when she has a perfectly cushy bed. So around 10:30pm we can move her to her bed, very carefully and very quietly, because if you make one wrong move she's awake and we restart the whole screaming at the door, wait til she falls asleep and try again routine. She then usually stays in bed until the am.

Then there are the other equally evil nights when she decides to go to bed like an angel, and leaves us scratching our heads like "Really? That's it? Huh?...". But then we know we best be getting ourselves to bed early because she will be getting us up early. Like 4am early, and then she gets out of bed, screams at the door and will even kick it until we come to her avail. So we try tucking her back in and restarting Tad, but it doesn't work, we end up( after an hr plus of trying to get her to sleep) bringing her in bed with us, which really upsets Eric. But what can you do I can't leave her screaming at the door and I also can't stay awake with her all night. So she ends up falling back asleep in bed with us (usually), and we get a horrible sleep (but at least its sleep) as she doesn't sleep still at all.

Man I miss the crib when I knew she was safe and warm tucked in her bed. This whole getting out of bed thing really bugs me.

So I ask of all of you what did you try that worked? Have any of you had any similar experiences? How long did it last? Why isn't she sleeping? I'll leave you with a sweet pic of my angel sleeping, prefer she does know how .....

Wishing you all a peaceful sleepy night tonight

Amy