It has definitely started

Once again tonight Oliver has refused to go to bed and is (as I type) crying upstairs with Hayley while I sit down here watching our dinner turn ever more crispy in the oven. If last night is anything to go by there is nothing wrong with him: he just doesn't want to go to bed.

It's not as if he isn't tired either. He was struggling to keep his eyes open earlier: he is such a little devil for fighting sleep!

I hope we can find a way to stop this because we were just starting to think that we might be able to start spending some of our evenings together as a couple again.

Does that sound selfish? It doesn't feel selfish to us. More a case of our preserving the relationship that brought him into the world. We used to love our time together and much as we love Oliver we do miss having that time just for the two of us.

I think (though I'll have to check) that he is getting to an age now where we could try controlled crying techniques: letting him cry a little before rushing to comfort him, then putting him back to bed once he is calm. This is supposed re-assure him but also teach him that he does have to go to bed!

Well, he seems to have gone to sleep for a while now, perhaps because we have left his nightlight on tonight. He doesn't usually need it, but maybe as he becomes more aware he is starting get a little afraid of the dark at times....?

Stop press (10 minutes later): The moment we got our dinner on the table he started to cry. Now Hayley's dinner is going cold while she calms him and puts him back down again. I wonder how many nights this is going to go on for.... and for how long every night.

Stop press (30 minutes later): we managed to eat dinner!