I wish mine was a sleeper -- I really do.
Mysillyboys, I am very jealous!
We mutually agreed a year ago (almost to the day) to no longer have a scheduled nap. DD was 2 years 7 months old.
It would take about 2 hours prep & recovery time around a 45 minute nap that left her cranky, moody, & unable to go to bed when she wanted to at night. Every other mother I know LOVED the freedom of when their child slept. I had to creep around and make no noise. Heck, it was easier when dd was awake and still is for us
At 12 months, I was relieved when she went from needing 2 to 1 naps in a day
Getting her enough rest was an all day project that left us both wrung out. And every blessed noise woke her despite having a fan on in her room.
Last year, we just had enough of the fights, fusses, feelings of failure, and frustration, so other than special circumstances -- no naps. It's worked out pretty well ever since. It is nice having the freedom to be out & about all day without having to keep an eye on the clock to HAVE to get back home.
When situations are ideal she sleeps from 7-7:15pm to 6:30-6:45am, then cuddles with me for a doze until around 7:15. And she's great all day long.
Unfortunately,things have not been ideal ever since the time change
She's whiny, argumentative, and exhausted. She's not falling asleep until 7:30 and waking up at 5:30. She gets into her cot to sleep about 15 or 20 minutes more with a lot of argument because she's tired, but it's not enough.
She actually lay down & took a half hour nap last week, but that made everything worse. She couldn't fall asleep until 8:40 and she was up at 5am, poor thing
She's not fighting going to bed, she just lays there & stares forever. It's pathetic when she asks, "Momma, why can't I dream?"
I don't know what to do to get her back to normal. Neither of us are happy about it. I think some of it has to do with it warming up. I HATE sleeping in a warm room and we're having to use the A/C to cool off at night. 76 degrees last night outside at 9pm
I"m only sleeping from midnight to 5:15am, so how can I blame her for something I'm not able to do either
Thankfully, she just ceased her latest round of miserable brat whining as I'm writing this. I confined her to daddy's chair until it passed. She started playing pretend with one of her dolls and used her normal voice. Yes, I praised & hugged & paid attn to her then. Nice to see my darling daughter back to normal again
Right now she's happily eating a frozen home made biscuit which she loves.
I'm crossing my fingers that the whining tired brat vanishes into her hole again.
To the OP, when your son does take a nap, try to make it a little earlier than usual, plus cut the time in half. Wake him if you have to. If he's cranky -- feed him a small bite to eat. DD ALWAYS wakes up from a nap needing food before becoming human. That should help on being able to go to sleep at a regular time. I also never call it a 'nap' (that's for babies). We use "Rest" or "Ruhe" (ruwa) which equivilent in German to resting quiet time. It's no longer a trigger word for her.
good luck