Charlie woke up last night at 3:30 or so. I used three of Mrs. Bee's patented tricks for getting him back to sleep:

1) Don't talk to your toddler when they're just waking up. - I used to respond to Charlie's demands and questions right away and then he would be wide awake and we would be up together for hours. But last night, I didn't talk to Charlie for the first few minutes after he woke up (meanwhile, he was making a verbal list of all his demands: to get some milk, to go downstairs, etc.). It worked and I was able to silently lead him back to bed, and he reluctantly got back into bed.

This trick has saved me hours of sleep a week. Thanks Bee!

2) Don't turn the lights on. - You can turn on a flashlight or your iPhone for light... but whatever you do, don't turn the room lights on.

3) Once your toddler is back in bed, if they're not falling back asleep... try reasoning. - I thought that Charlie was too young to be reasoned with (he's 2 1/2), but Bee taught me the error of my ways. Last night after Charlie woke up at 3:30 am, he eventually got back into bed but then he said that he wanted to go downstairs and play. I told him that we needed to rest so that we had energy tomorrow so that we could play with his train engines inside the sandbox. Then I started naming all the trains and cranes that we would play with: Thomas, James, Gordon, Hiro, Harvey, etc. etc. He started listing them all too and then I said that we needed to get rest so that we could play with ALL of them. I turned off the flashlight and he fell asleep within 10-15 minutes.

What are your tricks for getting a toddler back down in the middle of the night?