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@irene: Went through a similar situation for months and months!! It was so painful!
http://www.hellobee.com/2012/07/17/how-to-avoid-sleeping-next-to-your-child-until-they-fall-asleep/

Finally we put a lock on the door for a few days and he realized we weren't coming every time he called anymore. Problem solved, and we even took the lock off after that but things still went well.

@irene: I would make a list of everything he asks for, and write it all down. Then I'd go over the list with him, and make sure to do everything together before you leave the room. Then explain that when he calls you to come back, you won't be coming back because he'll already have done everything.

Then I'd just leave the house for 5-10 minutes! I wouldn't be surprised if he just passes out asleep once he realizes that you're not coming back as soon as he calls for you.

One last thought on this stuff: I talked to a child psychologist friend of mine when we were going through something similar to this, and he made a good point. He said that whatever my gut instinct was on this topic, it didn't sound like it was working since following my instinct was consistently creating this problem for our family. He was totally right and once I changed tactics, the problems we had resolved themselves incredibly quickly!

@irene: I'm suggesting that no one go in there!

When we sleep trained Charlie for the first time, Bee left the house because if she stayed home.... she definitely would have gone in to get him. He ended up crying for 17 minutes, then passed out! Then I texted her, and she came home.

We had a similar success when we stopped going into his room during his toddler bedtime shenanigans!

@irene: i'm sorry you're going through this! i hate to tell you that we've been dealing with toddler sleep since she turned 2, and she just turned 4. it is way easier now... but she doesn't sleep until 9:30 pm (though she does still take 1.5-2 hour naps so there's that).

the stalling isn't as bad as it was at first, but i think it's probably also bc our expectations changed, and we're a lot more efficient - we have her teeth brushed, make her go potty, and make sure we have her cup of water with ice by her bed all by the time we're ready to tuck her in.

when all this first started it was tough because we were so used to 2 years of amazing sleep and early bedtimes! we'd just plop her in bed at 7:30 pm and that was that! i think she wore us down - we're just too tired to fight anymore so we just do what we have to do to get her to sleep.

here's our current situation -- we've placed a floor mattress next to our bed and let her sleep in our room (we only recently started doing this bc we wanted to night train her for pee, but she shares a room with DS so we didn't want to worry about waking him up when changing sheets, etc in the motn). though after we started doing that, bedtimes have honestly become a breeze and we have been loving it. we tell her that if she wants to sleep in our room she has to go to sleep first bc mommy and daddy have stuff to do and we're older so we sleep later. somehow that clicks with her and she is okay with it! so we do still get our alone time, but not until after 9:30 pm. i have late bedtimes (midnight-1 am) because i need those few hours of alone time at night!

my son is 22 months and i am bracing myself for the same thing. he has been fighting bedtimes lately, but is still in his crib so luckily we're not quite there yet!

eta: reward charts worked really well for us when she was in her 3's to get her to stay in her own bed and in her own room (she didn't really get it in the 2's). have you tried that?

E has never been a good sleeper but going down at bedtime was usually not our issue. However, since she turned into a toddler (still young at 17.5 months) she has refused sleep. Its not unusual for her crying/shenanigans to last from 7pm until 10. I also need to sleep train because I know she's playing us but it is so hard letting her cry until she is sick.

good luck tonight!

we are going through this right now with our almost 2.5 year old.

"mommy i'm cold!" give him a blanket "mommy i'm too hot!"

"mom, i have a booger."

"mom, where is (insert random toy that he suddenly needs to sleep with)"

(watch him unplug his night light on the monitor) "mommy, it's too dark!"

I feel like I could have written this post! We are going through this same exact thing with our two year old. It happens for naps and bedtime and we/I go in from one to five times. It's rediculous because the last time going in she is EXHAUSTED and can barely keep her eyes opened. I've totally lost my cool on several occasions. When I go in I try to stay firm and brief. I retuck her in, give a quick kiss and leave but my LO like yours will not leave her bed but just escalate until I go in. So really no suggestions just letting you know you're not alone! Hoping this is a SHORT phase....

@irene: So awesome!! I fear the day this is us. She's already wanting us to stay in the room while she falls asleep.