Saturday September 10 . . . sleeping like a baby

This weekend is the first time we're trying any sort of sleep "techniques". We've been having issues at daycare with R's sleep pattern . . . in that he doesn't have one. Lately it seems to be getting worse, as the summary of the day from the teachers has gone from "He had a pretty good day" to "He was a bit difficult today" to "He was terrible."
(Side note: it's not a great idea to tell a mother that her child is "terrible". Leads to a bit of self-loathing and "I must be a shitty-ass parent". Just sayin'.)
So last night we discussed how to go about teaching him to sleep on his own. We decided we just had to be stubborn: put him down sleepy but awake, and keep letting him cry, comforting him but continuing to put him back in his crib. It was ok last night, because by the time we went to bed (9:30, we're SO LAME), I just nursed him when he woke up and it was like business as usual.
Today, however, was a different story. He fought us every step of the way. The minute we would cuddle him in that "time to go to sleep" way, he would FREAK!!! We spent several hours mid-morning putting him in bed, letting him cry, picking him up, calming him down, putting him back, rinse and repeat. He ended up sleeping for about 20 minutes.
In the afternoon, it was the same thing. It was about three hours of the same, sometimes letting him scream longer, because we couldn't think of what else to do. Even Google couldn't tell us what to do! GOOGLE FAIL! Eventually Chris tried swaddling him, which we haven't done since he was 2 months old, and bam. out. Mom and Dad: 1! He slept for a solid 30 minutes.
Around 7:45 or so I gave him a bath and nursed him in the dark room, put him down awake.
8:10pm: As soon as I left the room, he started crying.
8:20pm: I gave him a few minutes and went back in but didn't pick him up. I sort of "petted" his head and arms, and he dozed off again.
8:30pm A few minutes later, same thing. I gave him 5 minutes of crying, and went in and did the same sort of "petting". I also readjusted his swaddle (which he seems to hate), and he dozed off.

It's 9:10, and he's still out. A record, in my book. We'll see how long it lasts.