sleep, my child, sleep...

We had a rough night last night with Charlie. I just don't understand sometimes why he won't go to sleep. This seems to be a theme here lately...hopefully, just a phase. When he got up from his nap yesterday, I took him outside to try and wear him down. Walking+heat=sweaty boy and hopefully, a tired boy. So we did the usual routine: dinner, bible study, bath, read a book, sing our songs, say our prayers and off to bed. Everthing worked great...for a minute or two. And then, the crying and whining commence. That was at about 8:30. At this point, I'm thinking that surely he will be asleep by 9:00. Daniel and I were planning on watching a movie after Charlie went to sleep. 9:00 came and 9:00 went. Still crying and whining. Daniel and I have each gone in to comfort him already by this point, but, most of the time, that just made it worse. So then the screaming begins. Around 10:00, Daniel gets comfy on the couch and falls asleep. He said that he couldn't hear Charlie crying if he was asleep. It was my choice to let Charlie cry it out so I guess I deserved that. :\ About 10:15, I couldn't listen to anymore crying. I mean...an hour and a half? Who could take much more than that? I got Charlie up and he laid on the couch with me for about 15 minutes. At 10:30, I told Charlie it was time to go to bed. He got up, walked to his room and let me put him in his crib...and went right to sleep! What!?! All of that and then he just lays down without a fight? 2 year olds...do they just put a fight because they can?