Being a toddler is exhausting work. What with the potty training, the tantrums, and the endless display of insanity, it's no wonder the Sandman sometimes tries to tackle them at the worst possible times -- like when they're eating something really good.

Of course, toddlers are stubborn if nothing else, so they're certainly not going down without a fight. Some even manage to eat and sleep simultaneously, which is pretty darn entertaining. Here are five kids who make a valiant effort to fight off sleep for food, such as this first guy, Mason, who REALLY wants to eat his ice cream cone. He's just soooooo sleepy though.

Does your toddler fall asleep in the middle of playing? Or in the sandbox? Or on the potty? It is funny (and aggravating! and adorable!) how they seem to end up falling asleep everywhere except their beds or cribs.

Check out all these sweet toddlers *not* in their beds sleeping.

Image via Elizabeth/Table4Five/Flickr

They call it the terrible twos for a reason, I suppose. I have two who are two -- yes, twins. Try not to wince, I promise it's wonderful (most of the time). Still, I guess that means two terribles. But they are terrifically terrible and totally trouble in the best way. And I've discovered that it's not only the kids that have a reign of terrible twos, it's the parents. We experience our own terrible time when our kids turn 2. I mean, it's just harder.

To all the twin parents who said it will get easier when our babies were just wee little babies, I now know what you were really doing. You were lying, giving us the pep talk to let us know we can get through it. You see, these kids ... they used to depend on me for food and cuddles and singing songs, and now they depend on me for all that and to save them from themselves. What I do most of the day is try to keep these little daredevils alive. You see, everything you feared about having a 2-year-old is true. Possibly even worse.

My daughter turns 3 in a few weeks, and she's fighting her nap as of late. There are days when she spends a couple of hours in her crib singing and talking with no sleeping, while other days she's out like a light. This was how it started with my son when he gave up his nap, but he was at least 4 then.

Her giving up her nap at this point simply can't happen. She needs her nap. I need her nap. I intend for her to nap for at least another year, and I'm determined to make it happen. She's always been a fabulous sleeper, and I've been able to bank on at least two or two and a half hours of peace a day just when I need it most.

I hesitate to write this. A sense of fear is seizing me and every cell in my brain is yelling "shut the hell up." Every time I talk about it, it backfires. Just last week, when I broke down and dared utter those unspeakable words to my best friend, I was punished good. But this constant avoidance of the topic that literally rules my universe is too hard. I just have to tell someone:

My baby has been sleeping through the night!

Uh-oh. I just broke the first rule of Fight Sleep Club -- never talk about Sleep Club. Because as soon as you do, the wailing begins.

Whether you're one of those parents who has been dreading the shift from Daylight Savings Time for weeks or you're the type who has completely forgotten when it's supposed to happen, take note: The witching hour is this weekend.

Daylight Savings 2011 ends on Sunday, November 6. At 2 a.m., you move your clock back one hour.

For a lot of parents, those semi-annual clock shifts can be brutal. It can take a while for kids' natural circadian rhythms to adjust. That means that if you have a kid who normally wakes up, say, around 6:30 a.m., now you have a kid who might be yanking at your sleeve and rousing you from your pillow at 5:30 a.m. Ugh. Plus, at the other end of the day, kids may be exhausted -- and ill behaved -- because their normal bedtime feels an hour later to them. Double ugh.

What can you do to alleviate some of the time change's effects on your kids? Ashley Grimaldo, who blogs about money and offers advice for frugal-minded parents, has shared a few tips:

Sleep training. Crying it out. Not my thing. But it is for many parents. Does this sound familiar? At bedtime, you must be firm. You must make it clear that bedtime is not optional, that once the routine is over and they've had that "last hug" or last "drink of water," that they just need to go to sleep.

This battle of wills even starts when babies are newborns with us being told, "You must start putting them down when they're awake so they learn to self-soothe," and eventually leads to the idea that a baby needs to be put in their crib and left to cry, so they "understand" that it's bedtime and they must sleep.

We are convinced if we fail to do these things, our child will lack good sleep, the family will be exhausted, you will have no routine, everyone will be completely miserable, and your infant will "know" that they can "manipulate" you.

Did you ever wonder where these ideas come from, and why many other countries look at these practices as cruel and strange?

I know your secret. It's okay, I'm not judging you -- really. I've been there myself. Pretty much every other mom I know has been there, too. So you can stop feeling ashamed: At one point or another, most of us have resorted to using Benadryl as Ambien-for-toddlers. In a recent poll of over 26,000 mothers, 1 in 5 moms admitted to to giving their kid Benadryl or Tylenol to get through a long car ride or plane trip; Nancy Snyderman, M.D., a pediatrician involved with the poll, said she suspects the numbers are actually higher.

Well of course they are -- who wants to 'fess up that she drugs her tot for easy travel? But according to Snyderman, the occasional (and I stress, occasional) use of Benadryl to help a kid sleep through a flight or a drive is no big deal, provided parents get the dosage right. And you'll never guess who else is "guilty" of trying out this technique ...