Why won't my toddler sleep?

I have put that question into Google so many times I think if search engines could get tired Google would need a nap. I know I do. I have tried every suggestion under the sun, even ones that I thought were weird. Yet here I am, 1230 at night rambling in my blog.  My son will sleep if I am touching him. Only if I am touching him. I would cosleep at this point if it weren't for the fact that he's prone to waking up in the middle of the night and trying to get out of bed. My bed is highly escapable. It is the anti alcatraz. If I could figure out a way to sleep in his crib with him I would probably do that. But instead I am here on my living room floor with my son spooning my left knee and cooing in his sleep. 

Some parents, quite a lot of them actually would probably tell me to throw him in his crib and let him cry it out. Sure. You come listen to him scream because it tears the very fabric of my being a part and he doesn't calm down after 15-20 minutes. He keeps scream crying until I go in and pick him up. Not daddy, oh no. Daddy just will not dude. Dad's are great for playing when the sun is up. My son will giggle and run for the door as soon as daddy is home from work. But at midnight, 2 am, 4 am, or 11 pm only mama will do. God forbid I awaken my deeply sleeping fiance and send him after the baby. No that will only end in a grumpy daddy and a splintered door from my son attempting to tear his way into my bedroom.

This child is persistent. I didn't know a kid could kick a door for so long without passing out at 2 am until I met hayden.

He's lucky that during daylight hours he plays, cuddles, giggles and smiles with all the cuteness one little body can muster.  Otherwise I probably wouldn't be here with my back against a coffee table wondering how long before my knee goes completely numb.

I wouldn't trade it. Not a second of it. I know that in a blink of an eye he'll be off in the world making a life for himself with his own children tormenting him in the middle of the night. So I'll be thankful for my tingling knee and my aching back because they are side effects of the kind of love a mother only gets to huge her child for a little while. I'll appreciate the times he needs me because soon enough they'll come fewer and farther between.