I have a 23 month old in my care since February. When he started here, he was only 19 months old.
When he started coming in February, he would walk in and happily go play in the toy room. He had no interest in group activities and preferred playing independently. Since I didn't have much of a group, it wasn't a big deal to me. I had more time to clean. lol. He never needed a morning nap. I would feed him lunch at 11am, and he would go for a nap by 11:45am.
In April, I noticed that he started being extremely tired soon after drop-offs. I'd let him play a little for a half hour, then he'd go for a nap at 8:30am. I'd wake him up by 9:30am. He easily napped by 12:30pm.
Mid-April, his mom went back on rotating shifts so I only have him full days every second week. The other week, I get him at 1:30pm. I have told his mom several times to drop him off at 12:30pm. I now have another dck that needs to nap at 12:30pm. When he walks in, he is disruptive. This wakes up the other dck and disturbs my 4 year old (who is resting). Still, I managed. He'd get here at 1:30pm and would go straight for a nap.
In May, I noticed that he was extremely tired. He was hard to wake up from his morning naps. I had a whole week of him just sleeping. He would get here in the morning and would go for a nap within a half hour of arrival. He'd sleep the whole morning until lunch time. I couldn't wake him up! He'd stay up until 1:30pm and would go back to sleep for the whole afternoon. I commented on his sleep to his parents. They said that he was giving them a hard time to sleep at night, so now they let him stay up much longer.
Lately, he's been easily going for a morning nap. I wake him up an hr into his nap. He is very unhappy. He is cranky all the time, despite naps. I've tried dropping the morning nap, but he can't seem to go without it (thanks to the late nights and 6am wake up time). He fights the afternoon nap, even if his morning nap is a short one.
I currently have him sleeping in a playpen in the toy room. The room is made very dark, so that he can't see too much of the toys around him. The house is kept quiet. He cries about all the blankets, toys,...etc.. He wants them, he doesn't want them, he wants them, he doesn't want them. He throws everything out of the play pen, flips the mattress and then cries for me to go help him. In my opinion, he is too young to sleep on a mattress. In all honesty, I don't have another place for him to sleep. I am seriously considering getting him to sleep in my oldest son's bed. He never sleeps in his bed anyway. I am not prepared for this little guy to have that amount of freedom. He has become very defiant and will stay up until his body can no longer handle it. He cries at the drop of a hat. He is just very unhappy with everything. He was my dream child in the beginning! I don't see as many smiles anymore. He used to be so sweet. Now he's defiant, cranky, fights me on everything. He throws his food on the floor and refuses to eat. (he was a good eater). He throws tantrums at nap time.
What would you do?
Where should he be sleeping?
Should I change his nap schedule?
Should I just let him be cranky and disruptive all morning and let him crash at 11:30am?
Help! (lol)