So my wife and I got our 2 year old daughter her own bed because we moved the crib to new/future baby boys room. We've found that trying to get her to go to sleep is MUCH more difficult than we imagined.
Right now, if she's awake and we leave the room because it's "night time", she starts wailing and chases after us.
Our first thought was to sit in the rocker in her room until she falls asleep. But if she's napped during the day (which is 95% of days), then she could sit there for up to 2 hours without falling asleep. That's obviously not a very fun scenario. Even last night, my wife sat in there for an hour, then got up to sleep and she freaked out and chased after her.
Our second thought was to lock her in her room. But she again wails and pounds on the door.
Any thoughts on how to get control of this attachment/separation anxiety for night time? I really hate locking her in (we have to hold the door handle on the other side), and sitting in her room for that long doesn't seem like a good option to us.
One thing we WON'T give in to, is letting her sleep with us. Our bed is off-limits for sleep time.
Edit: to the commenter below...
Our crib night time routine was very easy. We'd read 2 to 3 books in the rocker. Then she shuts off the lights, turns on humidifier, turns on the sound machine, then we'd snuggle in the rocker for about 5 or 10 minutes. At that time, she'd willingly go to the crib. I'd put her down, say goodnights/I love you's, then walk out of the room. As soon as we'd get out of the room, she'd cry for about 3 to 5 minutes (but obviously couldn't get out of the crib). After that, she's out like a light until 6:00/6:30 in the morning.
Edit 2: sorry forgot to mention, along the lines of locking the door, we tried putting up a gate in the doorway. That backfired as she bulldozed her way straight through the gate.