sleeping sweetly - I wish!

Daniel has never been big on sleep. Or as I call it, "recharging."
When he was a baby, he'd catnap - 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there - regardless of the "routine" I enforced, the soothing baths and lullabys, the crib-side ocean waves. More often than not, I'd find him playing happily with his toes or his teddy bear.
As a toddler, he rarely took the usual nap. He might lay down with me, but 30 minutes later, he'd be up again - just as I was finally dozing off. And he was still waking at 1 a.m.! No longer for a feeding, but many a night I'd come home from work and he'd be playing in his room, or he'd have slipped out into the living room in search of toys.
When he was three, he decided to make eggs at one in the morning, and proceeded to turn on all the lights he could reach, get out a pan, and crack two eggs on the living room carpet before I woke up and caught him! I was mostly glad he hadn't decided to go for a drive - once I got over my shock and got him tucked back into bed.
We've finally broken the 1 a.m. wandering - for the most part. Now, he will wake up, talk to himself for a while, then fall back asleep. But he's making up for it by getting me up earlier and earlier!
Most of the summer, it was 7 a.m. Then, 6:30. Lately, it's been 5:30! And no amount of "Daniel, it's still dark out," or "It's the middle of the night, little boy," will get him to snuggle up with me and go back to sleep. Saturday or Tuesday, it doesn't make a difference to him! Bedtime is 9 - not too early, I thought, especially since he doesn't fall asleep without a fight. So I'm at a loss.
Any advice?
--Misty