New rhythms for bedtime

I have been pulling my hair at bedtime since 2 months ago when I weaned my two littles. When we went onto a vegan diet I lost all my milk so had to suddenly stop nursing my 2 and 3 1/2 at the same time. I was not prepared for the bedtime repercussions and how easy getting them to bed was while cuddling and nursing. I have been racking my brain while laying with them for sometimes more than an hour while they are bouncing up and down trying to wind down. I have read so many books and studied the Waldorf approach for now going on 3 years and still was at a lost at how to implement something that actually worked.
My son had dropped his nap almost 7 months ago, and suddenly started napping for almost 2 hours at this time as well. So my early to bed, and by early I mean 5:30pm, was now napping and then staying up until 9 with no foundation for bed. I was getting exhausted fast!
Finally, over the past week I implemented something that has had a truly transformational affect on getting them to sleep, telling a story! From my head. I started the story of Star and Zenith a brother and sister that live in a tipi in the middle of the forest. Each night I tell them how they walk to a meadow nearby and all the animals, bugs and birds that come out to eat, and then go to sleep. So this story has been the pivotal turning point in my children having a new stability to fall asleep. We start some hot water 30 minutes before I want them to get into bed, have some sleepy time tea, read our course in miracles book for children, then get Jammies on and head to bed. We get tucked in and then I close my eyes and start the story. My son has started waking up and talking about the meadow, and I realized it is giving him a foundation for his dreams so he can process his days through the safety of this meadow!
This process has really shown me how change is a choice. We can work against it and create a struggle or we can accept that there is a new phase. When I finally accepted that life had moved on from diapers and nursing I had to create a new foundation to lay for rest. I am really loving adding stories to help heal and calm myself and my kids. I purchased the book "healing stories for challenging behavior" by Susan perrow and it changed the way I thought about "discipline" and more about looking at the root of behavior and telling a story to help heal.
So for now bedtime is once again a time of snuggling and ending the night with connection instead of frustration. Change happens we just have to flow with it instead of trying to keep it the way it has always been.