Day 6 - Guest Blogger and an Overdue Visit

Someone is having a hard time sleeping tonight so he is helping me blog while we watch Shrek 2. This bedtime trouble has been going on since the holidays. I originally thought it had to do with his schedule being thrown off and all the excitement of Christmas, but now I'm starting to think he's got us wrapped around his chubby little finger.
We have a pretty solid bedtime routine. Depending on whether or not it is bath night around 7 we come upstairs so Max can have his Nook time while Lucy has a drink. We read our Baby Bible Storybook together and one short Lucy book. Then it is time for prayers and to put Lu to bed. After I get Lu situated we head into Max's room for a longer story, a song or two, then it is time for hugs, squeeze, kisses and bed. He'll usually play in there for a while-sometimes requiring a check in to tell him to settle down, but he's usually out within 30 minutes give or take.
Lately he's been staying up until 9:30 or later and having crying/screaming fits as well. He asks for "Rock two minutes," or "Snuggle two minutes," and calms down pretty quickly. Often this is happening right around the time Daddy gets home from work(starting to see the pattern here). Then it takes another 30+ minutes to get him to settle down enough to get back into bed. By that time it is after 11:00. You would think he would sleep in after staying up so late, but no. He's up banging around in his bed by 7:30 the next morning.
I think we're going to need to figure something else out. I've been holding off transitioning him to a toddler/big boy bed because he's been content in his crib, but I'm wondering if this may help with some of the bedtime troubles. We'll have to get stricter about him staying in his bed once we tuck him in, but the problem there is he gets so loud that he wakes up Lu-don't get me started on her sleep issues...

On a happy note, we had a long overdue visit with Uncle Shane today! It has been almost a year since Max and I saw him last and we have missed him! I wish we would have had more time to catch up, but I'm glad we got the first post-breakup visit awkwardness out of the way. Hopefully we'll be able to connect with him more this spring/summer.