Missing nap 18/19mo

[slightlyconfused85]

My dd is 18.5mo and has a nap 1.5 to 2 hours after lunch. She does need this or she is traditionally cranky and gets overtired and screams at bedtime so I try to make sure I am home for this sleep. We have started to be invited for barbecues, lunch dates etc with her now summer is thinking about arriving and I want to go but I am Anxious about lack of nap or no opportunity to sleep. Am I being silly? Should I be more flexible and worry less about whether she naps now she's older? What do others do?

We would ask for an early lunch say 12 then nap them in a pushchair.

We do the same as hotcrossbunny. Or if I know that whatever we're doing is far too exciting to allow a nap (e.g. trip to a farm/zoo) then I'll keep her going until about 3:30 (latest!) and she falls asleep in the car on the way home. She finishes her ~2hr nap in the car on the drive so I make sure I have something to read and/or play with DS if he's awake (4.5 mo). My DD is a bit older though (2yrs7mo) so may cope with a later nap better? We are now getting to the stage where some of her friends have dropped their nap or are shortening it, so we are invited out in the afternoon - we usually can't get their until 4pm (after nap) unless I arrive with her asleep in the pushchair. The logistics of planning our social life around naps are keeping my brain ticking over while on mat-leave.

sorry - hotcross hunny!