BedTime=Bad Time...

So, is my child the only one who screams like they are dying when you put him to bed?  Liam used to be so good when he went to bed, then a few months after he turned one, he started screaming.  Like not just crying and whining, SCREAMING, literally like someone is trying to kill him.  The only time he does it is bedtime at night.  He very rarely does it when it's nap time.  I have tried quite a few different things to get him to just lay down and go to sleep quietly, but nothing works.  All I have been able to do in order to not lose my mind is ignore him.  But, sometimes he screams an hour (on average it's 30 min), so it is harder to ignore him then.  Here are some of the things I have tried:

- Night light
- Leaving his door open
- Letting him pick some toys to sleep with
- Rocking him and reading to him for a little bit
- Letting him stay up 30-60 minutes later

I've tried other things too, I just don't remember them all.  He gets his sippy cup, his two favorite blankets, and his favorite stuffed animal everynight when he goes to sleep.  He also gets a snack and a half hour wind down time of cartoon watching before bed.  His bedtime used to be 8:00, but then I tried 8:30 thinking maybe he wasn't tired enough, then I even tried 9:00.  All a later bed time accomplished was him screaming until a later hour.  It didn't make him scream for a shorter amount of time, he just ends up staying up later.  So now he just goes to sleep at 8:30.  I try not to go in there becuase I don't want him to think just because he screams I'll come in and see what's wrong.

Another thing is, once he finally goes to sleep, he wakes up about an hour later and screams again.  I don't go in there when he does this either, because when I used to, I've noticed that he just gets more worked up when I leave, and it lasts longer.  On average, these screams only last about 10-15 minutes.  He gets up during the week at 5:30 A.M., which gives him about eight hours of sleep.  He takes an hour to two hour nap during the day, but doesn't sleep later than 3:30 at his nap time.  He usually stays up a little later on the weekends (so we can all sleep in, lol), and sleeps about 10 hours then, with pretty much the same nap schedule.  I don't know if I am doing somehting wrong, or if there is even anything I can do at all.  PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!