We need a nap

If you take a look at the recent sleep data on Izzy Info, Isaac's baby-tracking site, you'll see something new: four days in a row with no nap.

Although this is the longest he's ever gone without a nap, I've seen it coming for a while now -- it has been about three months since his naps were nice and regular. That's when he stopped dependably nursing to sleep at naptime, and since then I haven't been able to get him to nap unless I drive him around in the car. I should have paid more attention to those books that advise helping your child develop multiple "paths to sleep." We had one good method, and it always worked, so I never bothered practicing any others. It should have occurred to me that he might need to keep napping longer than he would want to keep nursing.

But why isn't he napping? He still needs a nap. He's tired in the afternoons, and he's exhausted by bedtime. He actively fights his naptime sleepiness, though, so I guess it's just more fun for him to stay awake even if it doesn't feel good. He has been making up for his lack of naps by going to bed earlier (and easier) and sleeping longer at night, so it's not a total disaster, but it's certainly not ideal.

After a few weeks of driving Isaac around to get him to fall asleep, I've decided to stop doing it. I mean, what kind of life is that for either of us? It's time-consuming for me, and he's not even learning how to fall asleep on his own. Plus then I have to lift him out of his carseat and carry him in from the car, and he's heavy -- and sometimes he wakes up anyway.

But I still put him down every afternoon, because I keep hoping that a consistent naptime routine and enforced quiet time will eventually trigger sleep. Sometimes I sit by his bed and help him stay lying down for 15 minutes or so. Sometimes I put a childproof cover on his doorknob and make him stay in his room by himself for 30 or 45 minutes, even though he gets out of bed and plays. When Craig is home, he rocks Isaac in his arms until he grows very sleepy, then puts him into bed, but even this works less and less frequently.

I just wonder what the chances are, at this point, of Isaac learning to fall asleep for a nap lying down in his own bed. Is it too late for an almost-three-year-old to learn new naptime skills?