2 Year Old Short Naps and "Lovey"

Well he may not be ready to drop naps altogether, but the length of naps does change over time, and napping at day care during the week is different than napping at home on the weekend (he probably gets more worn out at daycare.) When my K. started fighting their naps (varying between 2 and 3) I started laying down with them on my bed, we read a few short stories, and then I said "mommy's going to sleep now" and I turned over and "slept." Within minutes my little one was usually out (and sometimes, so was I!)
I see no reason to take his lovey away, especially since it's not a pacifier. But I would only pick it up once, he'll get the message pretty quick that you're not going back and forth.
Have you considered taking him out of the crib? My K. transitioned from the crib to a twin mattress on the floor at around 18 months. That way they could get out of bed and play if they woke up before I was ready to come get them (and yes, they were in a baby-proof bedroom with a gate and an audio monitor.) Or at age two a toddler bed would work too :)

My daughter just went through the same thing with the nap. We pushed her nap back 2 hours (from 11 to 1) and it worked like a charm. Yesterday she took a 3 hour nap.

My daughter did the same sort of things. She's now 3 and we just have quiet time in her room while her younger brother naps and I get a break. As she started resisting the nap, I found changing the terminology and telling her she could play quietly in her room worked. Sometimes she still naps, but usually she doesn't. At 2 when she started resisting, she was garanteed to meltdown if she didn't nap, but she needed the freedom to make the choice. She still naps at daycare, mostly due to peer preassure I think, but not at home.

In the end, what worked for us was to allow her more choices (playing in the room), and de-escalate the emotions in the situation (me decide that quiet in your room is fine so I don't have to battle naps). When she is horrible in the evenings, we change gears to either get energy out - usually a walk - or to settle down - yep, a video - and everyone is happy.

S.

with my twins, there were times when the only way to get them to nap was to lie down on the floor in their room and remind them to be quiet. Sometimes I would set a timer and say you need to be quiet until the timer goes off - if they were really tired they'd usually fall asleep before the timer went off, and if they weren't too tired, at least they had some quiet "down time" and didn't melt down as easily later in the afternoon.

As for the loveys - one of my 8YO's still *has* to have her plush Soft Play "Toy Bee" at bed time so I've got no tips in that area - our joke is that she'll be taking Toy Bee to college.:-)

Well, you gotta remember that nap times change as they grow, nothing every stays the same. Sounds to me like he's transitioning. Greeting him with a happy response that he's awake rather than a negative one such as "You arent supposed to be awake yet, go back to sleep" will be better for his "security" level. Throwing his puppy out to get your attention is exactly what he's doing (wants your attention), two year olds do whatever they can to get their way.
You might be able to train him to stay in his crib a little longer and play before he starts crying; place some of his favorite distractions in the crib with him while you finish what ever it was that he interrupted by waking up too early for you.
Just remember, you are his best friend, his food source, the one that makes him happy, it's only natural that he wants to hang out with you as much as he can. He'll only be 2 once, enjoy this "learning" age with him, he's a sponge for everything you can teach him right now. It's tiresome sometimes, but hey, it comes with the job of "Mommy".

he is just growing up . you may just have to enjoy the short naps. as for puppy he may just need it a while longer and might start a new little routine like reading him a short story before sleep and give him puppy and state if puppy jumps out of bed he will be ok until he gets up that puppy is still there but not as close he may be trying to get get some more mom time .loveys are a very important part of feeling secure so hang in there S.