Toddler nap/sleep nightmares - help!

[Howtotameyourtoddler]

My daughter started dropping her nap a month or two after her second birthday. I knew it would be a tricky couple of months, but it's been six months now and it's still a nightmare.

The problem is that she still gets very, very tired by mid-afternoon. If I take her out in the car after lunchtime, she'll fall asleep instantly. Even a five minute nap in the afternoon means she won't go to sleep until 9pm, sometimes later.

To work around this, I've tried to accommodate a late-morning nap. Sometimes this works and she'll get 30-40 minutes before lunch. Mostly though, she refuses to nap in the morning and we're then effectively housebound for the afternoon because if I take her out in the car, she'll fall asleep. Occasionally, usually when I can't avoid going out in the car, I'll just accept the late bedtime, but she's still grumpy and tired come 7pm, but she won't actually go to sleep until 9ish - not something I'm prepared to accommodate every day!

Is this a thing? I don't know how much longer to expect it to last, and it's driving me mad. To make things harder, I'm 25 weeks pregnant pregnant, knackered and running very low on patience.

Any advice?!

Ps I've tried EVERYTHING to keep her awake in the car - snacks, songs, giving her my phone to play with. The only thing that works is having another person in the backseat to keep her awake, but obviously I can't recruit someone just to keep my toddler awake in the car!

Can you go out late morning and see if she will sleep in the car then? I wonder if you can get tough on having a nap/rest. She can look at books etc if she can't sleep but might get back in the habit of sleeping more often.

We've currently dropped the nap, it's tough.
Some days he needs a 20 min power nap half 2ish any longer and he won't go down on a night.

Your just going to have to try and be tough, if she starts getting tired, out in the garden for fresh air, I've even resulted sometimes in having an afternoon bath, bubbles out, tea set in the bath.

Key is distraction. If you can see her starting to slow down occupy. Does she like a dance? Put some music on.

We have also stopped car trips through the day until he's fully settled into no naps.
I understand this always achievable though.

@BendingSpoons I do try to take her out in the morning with the idea that she'll sleep in the car on the way home, but it only goes to plan about 50% of the time.

Today, for example, we went out early (park and library) and I took a 30 minute detour home to try to get her sleep in the car, but no luck. She's been having back-to-back meltdowns all morning so is clearly tired. Tried to do quiet time in her room, caused another tantrum. I was supposed to be meeting a friend this afternoon and will now have to cancel, because I can't cope with another 9pm bedtime and not having a minute to myself. This is a pretty classic day with her at the moment.

... bit fed up to be honest. At what age does my life stop revolving around my child's sleep?!