co sleeping, cry it out, balance

After months (really I guess two years since that is how old my punkin is...twenty seven months and two days if you want to be exact) I've decided to let my son sleep with me.  Some folks call it co-sleeping, some people say its an aspect of 'attachment parenting'.  For me, it just works.  I don't know why, but at home, Caleb does not sleep through the night in his own bed or crib or hammock or nest.  At my sister's house, or my brother's house, or anywhere else it seems...he sleeps just fine all night long.  Granted in those situations he is usually close to another body of some sort-a cousin, an auntie, etc.  While he is not 'in bed' with them, they are in the same room and in somewhat close proximity.  If I put him to bed in his own bed, he generally begs me to lay down next to him after our bedtime routine.  I lay by him to pray, sing a song and count then I give kisses, say I love you and leave him to sleep.  Usually he will drift to sleep only to wake up crying every two to three hours.  I have let him 'cry it out' for as long as an hour.  During this time he gets more and more agitated and angry and I get stressed out, not only because my baby boy is freaking out but because I live in a townhouse with neighbors above me, behind me and next to me separated by thin walls.  They do not need to be woken up by my lonely, angry toddler when a solution is easy-let him sleep in my bed.  Arguments against co sleeping generally focus on the idea that kids need to learn to put themselves to sleep and to 'self soothe'.  Caleb does that just fine.  He falls asleep on his own-I don't go to bed when he does, even if he does sleep in my bed.  Folks also say that allowing Caleb to sleep with me will cause him to be clingy and have separation anxiety in all situations.  Caleb has only cried when I left him a handful of times  in his life and that wasn't about me at all-he wanted a toy that had to be left in the car when I dropped him off at daycare or he was angry about not being able to go to the store with me.  These meltdowns are about control not separation anxiety.  My Caleb is friendly and independent...not clingy.  I did some reading on the benefits of co-sleeping from various sources and have decided to give up the fight.  Should everyone do co sleeping?  No.  Every child and every parent and every family is different.  Parenting is not an endeavor that can be mapped out and controlled-it must be flexible.  What works for me and my Bubbaloo doesn't work for others, and as long as Caleb is healthy, happy, growing, kind, respectful, and learning to be a productive, independent, loving member of society, its all good.