Getting toddler to relax

[Coffeemonster1]

Our lg who is just 2, loves her sleep, as long as she is in her own bed at home. She settles as night, after milk and a story, she has a quick cuddle, then settles her self in bed.
But she isn't relaxed or able to lay on the sofa for cuddles or fall asleep if she is tired like most children do.
She just whinges more and more until we take her to bed. It's the same when out in the pushchair, I see loads of toddlers asleep in their pushchairs in the middle of the day, but she just won't relax, she just whinges instead or doesn't sleep all day which means she is a wreck by 5pm.
So if we are doing something that requires her to be in a good mood like visiting family etc then we have to plan to go home at a certain time to allow her to sleep. She isn't ready to drop her nap yet.
And this isn't something that we have created a bad habit with because even as a younger baby she wouldn't fall asleep when out and about and she wouldn't nap unless in her room (we have moved house since and she still was happier going up to her room to sleep than have a cuddle with us and fall asleep downstairs) in a new house she didn't know??
Any tips to getting her more relaxed but out of the bedroom.

[ThisFenceIsComfy]

Neither will mine, it's normal I think.

Does mean you are confined a bit while they still need a nap but that will be dropped soon enough and you will mourn the loss of naps forever

[Coffeemonster1]

It's just hard because when you have friends who's little ones will drop off in the pushchair and they carry on with their day, and I have to head home to allow her to nap to avoid the strops and tears etc. Then sit and wait from anywhere between 1-3 hours, by the time she is up there is no point in going back out. Plus we wanted to go out the for day like the zoo or peppa pig world for her birthday but knew we couldn't because she wouldn't cope with out a nap.

[Heels99]

Enjoy the nap times while they last, after they are gone your 1-3 hours to have a break or get anything done is gone!
Would she sleep in car if you went for a day out?

[Coffeemonster1]

She occasionally falls asleep in the car if on a long journey, although we have to listen to a lot of fussing and dropping her comforter and asking for it back then doing it again and crying because we refuse to keep picking it up over and over lol plus if we were on a whole day out we wouldnt really want to break the day up by leaving to drive round then go back to our day :/'you are right the time we get is lovely and she does sleep 12/13 hours at night still so don't want to complain. Just wish she would be more chilled out.

[PinkParsnips]

My dd is the same, I kind of wish in a way that I hadn't started doing naps in bed , as now that's the only place (except the car) she'll nap which is such a pain! Especially for my dad who looks after her 2 days a week and battles every day to get her to nap!