Aren't 2 year olds supposed to nap?

Before I complain about Kai's napping, or lack thereof, I want to share a cute story. Today when I got him up from his no-nap he kept saying "baby, baby." He's been saying this alot lately, not sure why. I don't know what made me say it, because we haven't said anything to Kai about a new baby yet, but I asked him if there was a baby in mommy's tummy and pointed to my burgeoning belly. He looked at it and contemplated for quite some time before enthusiastically shouting "Yeah!" :-)

Now Kai is a pretty easy going fellow, except if you mess with his bunnies (who are multiplying like, er...rabbits!) He didn't cry a whole lot as a baby and he tends to go with the flow for the most part. But he has never really liked the idea of napping. He is one of those kids who doesn't want to miss anything. "Napping on the go" with Kai ended at about 10 weeks of age! While he would complain ferociously when put down to nap, when he did sleep, he did it well. Kai has been known to nap for over 4 hours at a time, although more often, its for 2 or 3 hours. We fought the daily nap battles several times a day with both mom and babe in tears until Kai was about 6 months old. Then, armed with book loads of knowledge (ha ha), we began "nap training" in earnest. This is alot like any other kind of training, with logs to be kept, intervals to be timed and recovery needed. Kai took to it pretty well and within a few weeks was napping like a champ, twice a day without complaint. These were lovely times, until they weren't anymore. We've learned with Kai and his napping that we can't count on any one pattern for more than a few months at a time. 

Around 10 months of age Kai decided that one nap a day would be sufficient.  Those of you who don't bow to the Gods of Dr. Ferber or Dr. Weissbluth won't know this, but Kai was far ahead of the curve. Most kiddos don't dismiss the morning nap as a major inconvenience until well after their first birthday. But not our boy. So after our move to Massachusetts shortly after Kai's first birthday, we finally got a handle on his new nap schedule and began a nice, regular, long mid-day nap. Fast forward to transition time again and that nap became an afternoon nap. Then we had several heavenly months of peaceful afternoon naps lasting up to 3.5 hours. Bliss! 

Ring in 2009 and our little napping champ decided it was time to shake things up again. Some days he'd take his regular afternoon nap, sometimes not. I had always feared that an early drop to one nap might predict an early drop to no naps but the bibles of sleep are silent on that matter. So I kept hoping we were just in another little "phase." Well, several months later we're still in it, only Kai's nap to no-nap ratio seems to be increasing as the weeks go by. Luckily he still seems to enjoy his downtime with "nana" (aka: bunny) in the afternoon and is typically content to hang out in his crib if he doesn't nap so mama and/or dada can get some things done and re-energize for the post-nap Kai activities, which usually don't involve alot of sitting still. So we'll keep trying to get this newly-turned-2-year old to nap while he continues to say "mo!" with a vehement shake of his head whenever he is asked if he is tired and ready to nap. Wish us luck!