Edwin, your story gives us hope too. Our line, insofar as we have one, is that DS has to go to sleep in his own bed. This is not much of an accomplishment, however, since it involves DW sitting there with him until he's fallen asleep. Also, like you, we have a rather baroque bedtime ritual, though I confess it doesn't involve force shields. Maybe that's worth trying. I remember a time long ago when I had the opinion that he should probably sleep in his own bed through the night, but it's long since stopped seeming worth the effort. No method that seemed at all humane had any effect. (Ferberizing seemed to me barbaric, though I can imagine that it works well if you have the fortitude to stick with it.)
For the most part, we've learned to be at peace with our situation. Bed-hog issues don't bother me too much since it's pretty easy to move him over, and I'm even pretty unflappable about getting kicked in the ribs; the massive head butt to the first thoracic vertebra that I received a few nights ago did get me worrying a bit about pulmonary function, but it seems to have worked itself out more or less. Evil dad comes out mostly under the extreme stress associated with loud shrieking in the middle of the night that has no apparent cause. Even then he is limited to quiet but firm words of dissuasion. But that seems to be effective. I do worry about the Freudian issues related to itching, though.
BB
