She sleeps

Ellie recently abandoned her "normal" sleep schedule. For months she's been on a great routine of bedtime around 7 p.m. and waking up between 6-7 a.m. But the past two weeks have been a roller-coaster. Some nights she's ready for bed around 7:30 or 8 p.m.... others she's wide awake, or at least fighting sleep, until 10 p.m. When her bedtime first started creeping later, I was thrilled to have some extra evening hours with Ellie. But the 10 p.m. nights are not fun because she spends most of the time past-8 p.m. rubbing her face and even laying her head down on the floor... but still screams if we try to put her in the crib!
The majority of the advice we've gotten from other parents is that Ellie is testing her limits. And, unfortunately, it seems like the more leeway we give her on bedtime, the more likely she is to fight a routine. Two nights ago she went to bed just before 8 p.m. and we didn't hear any more from her until the next morning. Last night, however, she went to bed exhausted around 7:30... and then woke up close to 9 p.m. I let her cry for a few minutes and then went to investigate. She wasn't wet, so I hugged her and put her back to bed. After hearing her scream for 10-15 minutes after that, I finally went upstairs with a small drink. I offered it to her and she had a few sips, but that clearly wasn't the issue either. After loving on her for another couple minutes, I put her back in bed. She protested briefly, but then went back to sleep.
I guess this is just another round of training for both baby and parents. While I hate, hate, hate hearing Ellie screaming from her room... I don't want her to think that we'll let her get up and play any time she cries. Plus, she has a lot more fun during the daytime hours when she gets enough rest overnight.