I am stuck in a nightmare, or I guess I should say daymare if there is such a thing! What started out as my toddler deciding not to nap once every couple of weeks, changed to napping every other day, and now he is going days in a row without napping. I know he needs the nap. He is exhausted and seems very tired until I leave the room. Then the somersaults and jumping in the crib begins. Followed by shouting songs, the alphabet and counting out loud. We do a short pre nap routine consisting of a couple books and a song. I limit any type of crazy activity after lunch and the tv is off. We try doing quieter activities until nap time. He seems wound down but goes absolutely nuts after a few minutes of lying down. It's like he can't shut off his brain. If he would lie still for long enough I know he would fall asleep. I tried just doing quiet time with quiet books but he is anything but quiet and resting. I thought it was just happening on the days that he wasn't burning off a lot of energy in the morning, but it happens on days where he should be/is physically tired. I bought one of those twilight turtles hoping the soothing sounds and the water projection on the ceiling would help him sleep but he is terrified of it. The only thing I can thing of that could be keeping him awake is him not being able to shut his brain off for sleep. I am the same way. I have to count backwards in order to allow my brain to stop thinking about everything. So how do I help him do this? Any suggestions? The terror doesn't end there... He also keeps sticking his hands in his diaper. Some days he poops and plays with it. I swear he is deciding to poop at this time so he can stall naptime. He goes before he goes to bed most of the time and if he hasn't I watch the monitor so I can try to catch him before he plays in it. Thankfully it has just been a hand stuck in it and no poop art...yet. The last couple of days he has stripped down and peed on the bed as well. He is not potty trained. I am going to try footless onesies put on backwards to get the stripping/diaper removal under control. Sorry for the long post!