For the last five or six months, the boys and I have been struggling with a nap schedule that works for everyone. If asked, they will emphatically deny that they need any nap ever again. If Mommy is consulted, she will beg for the return of the afternoon nap (and a bit more of her sanity than she's had lately).
Connor, the verbal one, is pretty vehement in his denials of needing the nap. "Connor no tired! Connor awake! Connor no need nap! Connor is playin'!" are the usual litany of responses I get from him at the mere suggestion of an afternoon nap. And honestly, he is quite ready to be without one 99 percent of the time. The usual exceptions are if he's spent a day (or days) with one of the grandparents or if he's been at the pool for any length of time the day before. A nap will be required and even though he will deny needing one, he will be asleep within minutes of being put in bed. But all in all, him not taking a nap makes bedtime go that much more smoothly and he's finally able to occupy himself for at least the majority of any nap time his little brothers take (so that Mommy can get some much needed peace and quiet!).
The little guys are divided. Xander is my sleepyhead and usually goes pretty willingly upstairs for an afternoon nap (and is quite cranky if he's not allowed a little afternoon siesta). He even sometimes claps his little hands and grins when I open the gate (Mommy loves him, a boy after her own sleep-loving heart).
Sawyer kicks and screams and raises all kinds of protests the moment "nap" or "night-night" is mentioned. He knows, absolutely knows, the minute I open the gate in the afternoon what is about to happen. And the kicking and the screaming and the big crocodile tears immediately follow. I usually have to carry him, forcibly and against his will, upstairs and into the little guys room, and he usually is arching backwards and away from me the whole time trying to escape. And whether or not he sleeps is totally hit and miss. Some days, he'll be asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow. Other days, he will lay there quietly for about forty-five minutes and then get up and begin kicking the door (his non-verbal method of demanding release), which sometimes ruins the nap for Xander. And some days he will stay up there the whole time Xander sleeps, awake but quiet and fine.
And then there is the other, the thing that makes me cringe just thinking about it. The little guys probably really do need that afternoon nap on most days, just a short one. But they don't do short ones. If they fall asleep, it's for hours and hours and hours (like up to six), which of course means they don't have any desire to go back to bed, EVER. And at the end of a long day, Josh and I are so very ready for them to go to bed, so that we can have just a little bit of peace and quiet before we need to go to bed.
So my compromise lately has been giving them naps only on the days when I cannot stand their whininess and crankiness (usually about two or three times a week) and then only allowing them to sleep for a few hours (no more than two). Otherwise, I have at least one twin falling asleep on the couch at five or six o'clock, and not wanting to go to bed with his brothers. So a few hours are attempted every couple of days.
And that, doesn't really go well either. My children are apparently deep, deep sleepers. You have to physically pick them up to wake them up. Otherwise they will burrow and roll and duck back under the covers or pillows or into each other, blissfully sucking their thumbs and continuing on with their sleeping as though you're not there or not speaking to them or touching them.
If I am forceful and pick them up, I have to do so one at a time. They will cling, as in death grip cling, for the next thirty minutes while they "wake" up. Juice helps, but it does not eliminate the clinging. And the clinging must be done while standing up, because to try and sit down with said clinging child results in automatic screaming and whining and suddenly you're wondering if those few hours of sleep are really worth it for the hour-long wake-up session that's required (there are two of them, so it really does take that long).
Today was a two hour nap with the hour long wake-up session. They are now currently bouncing off the couch and the walls (literally), and will probably not be ready for bed when we are ready to put them there. Surely some day soon we can get them on a sleep schedule that works for everyone. For now, we're still a work in progress . . .