When do 'happy' bedtimes start?!

[strangerthanfiction]

I really can't complain in almost every way about my 19 month dd's sleeping patterns. She sleeps an 11 hour night usually straight through but occasionally wakes once if she's ill or hot / cold etc. but settles fairly quickly after that. And she sleeps a good 1-3 hour nap in her cot in the afternoon.

The thing I wonder about is that she's always needed to 'grumble' her way to sleep, sometimes even screaming a bit. Not for long in general, 5 mins usually but sometimes can go on for 20 mins. Now she's old enough to enjoy a bedtime story I've been trying to focus on this more and more in the hopes of reaching this bedtime scenario I've always had in my head of lying her down, tucking her in, giving her a kiss and leaving her happy in her cot. But although she loves her stories and is very relaxed and sleepy at the end and tells me to turn the light off etc. she still always stands up when I leave her and repeats my name for some time before she goes off to sleep. She also still cries sometimes.

So the question is: is this just the way it's always going to be? Or is there a magical moment when it all gets a bit easier?

would love to know the answer to this one too!!!

one of us has to stay in room with ds (2.2yrs) until he falls asleep. he will just get up straight away otherwise

I think it varies.

Dd (just 2) is happy to go to bed most nights as long as we indulge her a little (for example, she'll ask for water, and one of us has to go and fill up her sippy cup even if it's already full. We just turn the tap on and off).

We've just moved her to a bed so we've had a few nights of screaming while she gets used to it. We found just shutting the bedroom door really quickly after turning the light off helps a lot, but that may be just dd.

I can't really work out how I can change things with dd for the better at bedtimes. She gets a lot of attention and is nicely tired and ready to sleep but she still doesn't want to be left. On the other hand if I try sitting with her she NEVER goes to sleep but continues chatting until I go.

Ds1 always used to cry himself to sleep - I really didn't like it - then at some point it just stopped (can't remember when, but he was certainly well over a year). He is a lark and generally very happy to go to bed - used to wake up in the morning screaming, but now that he is more verbal he wakes up chatting instead....
I don't think you need to change anything - if you stay and talk it will probably get worse rather than better. Does she have teddies/dollies in bed that she could chat to instead - maybe start to involve them in the bedtime routine??

Thanks elliott. Yes, dd goes to bed with her favourite toy and usually another of her choice for that particular evening. She eventually snuggles down with them but I can never seem to get out of the room with her happy. She always protests, sometimes more, sometimes less. But she's completely happy during the bedtime ritual itself as I described. It's just when it comes to me leaving her. When she wakes up she's fine, lies chatting for a while before she calls to me.