Sleep Regression, Perhaps?

It seems that we are going through some sort of sleep regression around these parts.

I can't put a finger on when exactly it started -- probably sometime in early to mid- June. We were dealing with a lot of thunderstorms, and if I remember correctly, it was getting harder and harder to put L to sleep every night.

It started off small. Instead of snuggling bedside for a few minutes and one hug, he started standing back up and asking for another hug. After a few nights of getting away with that, it turned into three hugs and four.

Then it turned into him crying for a few minutes while I put his sister to bed. I would go back in to hug him again as soon as I was done with her, and lay him back down after which he would calm down and put himself to sleep.

Then he started wanting the timed light on the monitor turned on. And would get mad if mid-routine it would turn off on him. So he would start crying about that.

Cut to this week:

We read our story, snuggle crib-side for a few minutes and I lay him down. He immediately jumps back up for more snuggles and hugs. Endearing as it may be, its getting frustrating.

Because now, every time I lay him down, he is screaming until he can barely scream anymore. And fighting sleep. For upwards of an hour. Every night.

So I let him cry some. He's not a baby anymore. Its not "crying it out". He knows how to go to sleep. I'm just "laying down the law".

I go check on him. Every 10 minutes or so. Calm him down. Hug and hold him. And lay him back down. And as I leave the room, it all starts over again.

We are currently going through the motions of sleep training all over again. It breaks my heart to hear him so upset every night ... but its frustrating, too. Not only am I dealing with a three year old who doesn't seem to want to stay in her room OR her bed at night, but on top of that, an 18 month old who is regressing his own sleep behaviors?!

Why cant kids relish sleep in the ways that we, as adults, do? ::Sigh::