Sleep

Riley has always been an excellent sleeper. He has never really pitched a fit at bedtime (although he has been known to stall occasionally), usually gives us at least 12 hours at night, and is generally pretty happy when it's time for night-night. Until recently. I don't know if he just isn't tired (unlikely given the amount of time he spends on the go), or if he's afraid he's going to miss out on something or what, but about a month ago, he started screaming each and every time we put him to bed. We tried putting him to bed earlier (maybe he was overly tired), putting him to bed later (maybe he was getting too much sleep and was trying to tell us to extend his bedtime), rubbing his back (so spoiled)... anything to make the process easier.

One day it finally occurred to me that maybe he thought we were having tons of fun after he went to bed (little does he know that all 4 of us almost immediately run to our own bed because he has exhausted us so much!!!), so I tried explaining to him that the rest of us were going night night too. I had Casey go get into bed and pretend that he was sleeping and then after I put Riley into his pajamas and brushed his teeth, I told him we had to be really quiet so we could go see that daddy and the doggies had already gone night night. He was surprised and delighted to see Casey "asleep" and told me to "shhh" and put his pointer finger up to his lips. We quietly left the room and Riley went to sleep without incident. Now all I have to do is talk to him in a soft voice and say "shhhhh" when I am getting him ready for bed and putting him in his crib. He says "night night Mommy" and lays down without protest.

Is it bad that I feel victorious for tricking a 2 year old?