Arrgh, totally overstimulated toddler after nursery school - any tips?

[ejbab]

My DD (2.9) started nursery school a couple of months ago, for just one day a week (from 9am til 3.30pm - we live in Australia where children go for full days rather than half ones). She is in the process of giving up her daytime sleep so only has half an hour when she's there, but even on days she hasn't had a sleep she's totally unbearable for the rest of the day and night. She is totally overexcited, quite badly behaved (which I gather is quite normal after being 'good' all day at nursery) but the hardest thing to deal with for the whole family is how she finds it really hard to get to sleep and stay asleep at night.
Is this normal? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Is it because she's only going one day a week so it's a big exciting change from her usual routine?
I don't want to pull her out as she seems to be thriving there, but it's getting to the stage where DH thinks we should because she was up from 2am til 4am last night having not even gone to sleep til 9pm (usual bedtime: 7pm). In fact my view is opposite - maybe she should be going twice a week to get her more used to it, or maybe then she'll just not sleep 2 nights a week..... hmm
I try to keep the rest of her day pretty low key after picking her up, make sure she doesn't watch much TV etc.
Sorry for rambling - v. sleep deprived! Any ideas gratefully received.

[colditz]

How about taking her to the park with a ball straight afterwards, and running her like a dog? She may need more exercise!

[bodiddly]

Is she over-tired? My ds is at nursery full time and can be a nightmare when I pick him up as he doesn't sleep during the day any more. I find that although he has been good all day he goes down hill almost the minute I get him. We literally get him home, give him a snack, let him play for 20 mins then bath, book and bed. She will probably get used to it pretty quickly but I would have thought the idea of going only 1 day a week might be a little confusing - perhaps try 2 or 3!

[Shoegazer]

I'm having something similar, my 2 year old has just started nursery 2 mornings a week and I'm finding that she is skipping her daytime sleep completely on nursery days. By the time I pick her up at 1pm she is past the tired stage and there is nothing I can do to settle her down so she is then wanting to go to bed at about 6pm and waking up around 4-430am for the day. I'm just hoping that "this too shall pass"....