I feel for you as i know how hard it is. Im a first time mum and my daughter is only 7 months old so i cant communicate to get her to go back to sleep. But she is similar to your child as she struggles to make it through to 7pm to go to bed, if she had her way she'd be in bed at 5:30pm and the get up at 6am, not good at all. I have started giving her some tea when she gets tired, and then when she gets tired again offer her a pudding (i.e. fruit as dont want sugar rush kicking in before bedtime) and then bath her about 6pm and drag that out as long as possible, when she gets out of the bath i slowly get her dried and into her pyjama's, then we have "quiet time" and although i know she doesnt understand me at the moment im hoping this will stick with her when she can understand, i say to her "we're going to have some quiet time before bed now" that way she knows she is going to bed soon but not yet, then we sit together and play with soft toys or have a cuddle or even just watch the tv, i always dim the lights to wind her down and when she starts drifting off i take her to bed, by the time all this is done its usually between 6:50pm and 7:10pm. She does sometimes wake up around 6am, so i give her her dummy and a teddy and say "night night" so she knows we're NOT getting up, generally works. Hope this helps. Sticking to the same routine everynight and putting up with the crying and winging does pay off as after a few days they do learn they aren't in charge. Good luck to you.