Help - 2 year old thinks bedtime is a big game!!

[lechatnoir]

My nearly 2 year old has recently become a total bugger at bedtime and on a typical night is still up & about 1-1.5hours after 7:30pm bedtime . He shares a room with DS1 (5) who thankfully nods off fairly quickly but it does mean I can't ignore DS2 if he gets to loud. A typical night is bedtime & lights out by 7:45pm then the next hour or so is DS2 getting up playing, 'reading', bouncing on the bed, chatting - basically anything but sleep!!!. We ignore it for as long as possible but if we hear him walking around, banging on the window, shouting etc we will go up & put him straight back down. I just put in back in bed & say go to sleep (in my best cross voice) no chat, kisses etc so attention is minimal.

He's non-stop all day so really should be tired & when he lies down does have sleepy eyes but just can't seem to keep them shut long enough to nod off!! . Bizarrely, he goes down for a nap in the day pretty well - maybe 5/10mins of chat but nothing like night time.

DS1 has always been a brilliant sleeper so I'm totally lost. Any ideas?
LCN

He's ready to drop his nap.

Well that's what I thought until 2pm today when after an hour of grizzling & clutching on to me he fell asleep!!

DS1 (aged 5) is the same. He has his own room, but goes up at about 7.30 ish and is up and down until we get really cross and he goes to sleep. Often this is at about 9pm. He gets up at 6-7am and is at school all day, so really should be tired.

I think you just have to go with it and be a bit strict if nec.