All I know Edelweiss, is that before our separation, I never had any trouble with getting him to nap by himself. This was totally new behavior that appeared after the separation.

Another similar incident happened when their Dad dropped them off at my father's house during the Christmas holiday, where I was waiting to start my celebration with them... (That year he got them for the days up to the 25th, I got them afterward. The plan was that the parent who got them for Christmas was to be traded off annually...)

Driving home that night, I stopped at a family friend's home for several hours, and ended up getting back in the car for the last leg of the trip about 8 PM. As the kids had been playing with old friends all day, I figured they would sleep the whole trip home.

Jen did, but Zach remained alert in his car seat the entire 2.5 hour trip home. Which was great because I stopped at a Hardee's restaurant to use the restroom at one point, and ended up making a wrong turn out of the parking lot - such that I was heading back North he way I'd come, instead of South.

Zach actually alerted me to the error before I got to far -- he saw a McDonald's and hollered out that he wanted to stop. I realized there should NOT be a McDonald's on the highway going home. So I had to thank him profusely for saving me from driving who knows how long in the wrong direction!!

Young kids are smarter than we tend to give them credit for - I think we tend to misjudge them because they're not yet verbal on an adult level -- and they DO know what is going on.