Simon's Stalling Techniques

Simon has always been pretty good about going to bed at night. He's definitely gone through phases of better sleeping and worse sleeping, but overall he has never given us much to complain about. His latest thing, however, is coming up with a million excuses why he can't go to sleep at bedtime. The excuses range from being thirsty to being scared of the dark (even though it's so light in his room because the light from the hallway comes in) to being hungry to the tv being too loud etc etc.
Last night, he first thoroughly impressed me by reading himself the first 2 pages of a book while I was getting him a drink. He seemed like he was actually sounding out the words so I don't think he had it memorized and I think he was actually reading it. After I read him the book, we had a very long conversation about how to make a spear using cardboard and paints. I kept thinking the conversation was over and that I could leave and he kept having more to say "But Mommy...just one more thing..." was heard over and over again. Even after I left his room, he kept calling to me "But Mommy..." Finally I put my foot down and told him he had to stop talking and go to sleep. He said, "but I have something very chashuv (important) to tell you." I don't remember what it was so it probably wasn't all that chashuv after all.
Tonight, he was playing Wii before bed. David gave him a very clear choice between stopping his game right then (after he had already played about 3 or 4 games lest anyone think he was being deprived) and getting a book before bed or finishing his game and then going right to bed with no book and no whining or crying. Simon said "I want to finish my game and then I will go to bed with no whining or crying." Obviously that is not what happened. He whined and cried that he didn't know that the game would be so short and he still wanted a book. I had a long talk with him about choices and decisions and consequences. He still figured out how to get his way. He said "when we miss tefila at gan, can we do it at home?" I said sure and asked him if he missed it at gan this morning (David took him and I had already left with Eli so I have no idea what time he actually went). He said no and then I asked him if he wanted to do some tefila now. He said "yes, I need to say sh'ma before I go to bed." So religious that one...but how could I say no to that? So we started to say it together and then he asked for his siddur which has buttons that you press and then it sings the different prayers. Sneaky sneaky way of getting a book (although I guess it wasn't actually a story). First I said no but then he said it wasn't fair because he couldn't remember all the words to sh'ma and he wanted to make sure he said it all. So I got the siddur and let him say sh'ma.
Eli, on the other hand, goes to bed with no problem. As long as he has his 14 cups of "milky." Good thing milk is healthy because it's about the only thing he consumes ever. I was impressed that he actually ate most of a hot dog and 2 pieces of cake at Shiri's birthday party today. As well as a few noodles that he stole from baby Asher. Asher, I should note, is my favorite baby of all the babies at the moment. He was sitting nicely next to Eli during the party and then Eli got up quickly and sort of lost his balance and accidentally knocked Asher over. He got a little startled and he started to cry. Debbie was facing the other way and didn't notice at first, so I picked him up. He wrapped his arms around my neck and squeezed and put his head down on my shoulder. It was the cutest thing ever! He also automatically lifts his hands above his head whenever he sees me because I taught him "how big is Asher?" "sooooo big!"