Bedtime Bootcamp Success?

If you've ever read anything I've posted, you know that my kids are NOT good sleepers! With Cole.....first baby, stupid Mommy. I didn't even try to move him to his crib till he was 4 months old, he still didn't put himself to sleep and he was NOT having the crib! He ended up sleeping with us until he was 10 months old! My sister-in-law then suggested we put a mattress on his floor in his bedroom. At that point I thought....I'll try anything! It worked! So until he was a little over 1 he slept on a mattress on his floor. Classy huh? Then we converted the crib right past the toddler bed stage, and into the full size bed. We didn't put the box springs on, just the mattress so it was low for him. At then at about 2 1/2 we put the box springs on with a bed rail. So basically Cole has slept in a full size bed since he was 10 months old! However, he still doesn't put himself to sleep. We lay with him till he falls asleep.

Poor Drew....after my mistakes with Cole....Drew went to his crib at 4 WEEKS not MONTHS. He still falls asleep with a bottle at night, so he doesn't put himself to sleep yet either...but I WILL get him to! He still wakes up to eat at night, so we feed him, and put him back in his crib! No co-sleeping for that guy!


Anyway, Cole's sleeping has been a nightmare challenge from the beginning. He has recently decided that he no longer needs to nap. So he terrorizes my daycare at nap, and then when we go upstairs in the evenings he's crashing on the couch and napping till like 7:30! Ummmm NO. Then he won't go to bed until sometimes after midnight. Then not waking up till 8, and needs to leave for preschool at 8:30 three days a week! A vicious cycle, we are all exhausted from. Not to mention, this is not ok for a 3 year old! Not healthy for him. I never have any time to myself, or my hubs when Cole isn't going to bed till late. We are all angry by that point ! lol.

So I thought, we need to fix this and fix it now! So I began on Monday. Cole didn't nap......ok great. Well when we went upstairs from daycare that evening I played and played and played with him. When I was feeding drew dinner, I had cole come over and do flash cards with me. I gave him tons of jobs to do, and then took them both up for a bath together. The object of this game was to not give him the opportunity to fall asleep. It worked! Drew fell asleep at 8:15 so I put him in bed....(with the time change he's been going down an hour earlier, works for me!) and then Cole and I went to his room to read books. At 8:40, I stopped reading and turned the lights off. He was out by 8:50! HOLLA!!!! and this was all while my hubs was on his 24 hour shift, so I was pretty proud of myself. (he works 24 hours every third day) Yesterday, we went to dinner with Randy's dad....didn't get home till 8, so I was dreading that our schedule had ALREADY been messed up in one day! but.....we pulled it off. Drew was asleep by about 8:50, and Cole at 9:12 EXACTLY...yes I timed him! lol. So fingers crossed.....that this no napping thing, early bedtime approach will continue to work. Both nights I've been in bed by 9:30, and I'm proud of it!! LOL

Any bedtime tips for me?