My 3.5 year old seems to fluctuate between having an afternoon nap and not...problem is that if she does have a nap I usually have to wake her after 1 hour otherwise she will happily sleep for a lot longer and won't sleep at night (won't go to bed, will wake up at 4:30am etc etc). Even when its limited to 1 hr, she still has trouble getting to sleep (falls asleep around 8:30-9 as opposed to 7-7:30 which is her normal bedtime).
If she doesn't have a nap its 75/25 whether she will make it to bath and bedtime or crash out about 4:30/5pm. If she makes it to bedtime she will fall asleep straight after a story at about 7-7:30.
So the reason I am writing this now is that she has currently just passed out on the sofa. Its 5pm and I don't know whether to wake her or not... One of the reasons I am so hesitant is that the last couple of times I have woken her from her afternoon nap or these "crash out" naps, she has become absolutely hysterical to the point of screaming and thrashing around on the floor for 10-15 minutes....thoughts anyone??