Bedtime Battles

Bed time is always a struggle at my house. Some nights are easier than others, and others are extremely trying on my patience. Even at 3 years old, my son has every excuse in the book for staying awake. He has now started negotiating with time. If I say it's bed time, he will say "No mum, only 45 more minutes." I will say, "No, that's too long." Then we will negotiate down to 5 min, which takes 5 minutes to do, so the clever little man has actually managed to stay up an extra 5 minutes. Once I have him in bed, one cup of milk turns to 2. After a while, I will hear footsteps, and the little guy will say, "Mum, I don't want that blanket, I want the other one with the dots." My favourite though, is when he gets up to use the toilet, he absolutely has to grab a toy first. He can not wee without holding a toy in his hand, and of course, no matter how bad he has to wee, the toy, usually a car, has to drive there and then, of course, drive back. Brushing his teeth before bed is an adventure in itself. My son is at that age now where he has to do everything himself. He will not, for the life of me, allow me to brush his teeth. The only way I can get in there is to give him a flashlight so he can shine it in his mouth, in the dark. I have to convince him that if I don't brush his teeth properly, that his teeth will turn black and fall out. Then he will say, "I AM brushing them properly." After the excuses are finished, he settles and falls asleep on his own. In the grand scheme of things, we have it quite easy. I need to admit however, that his bed time stories make me look forward to the struggle every night. His stories are truly epic. What are your experiences with bedtimes? How do you deal with a child that resists to go to sleep? What are your bedtime regimes? What time is bedtime? We have found that an 8pm bedtime works best for us. You have to love the bedtime battle...tell me yours.