Hi there,
Dropping the catnap is a hard transition period. It's one of just a couple sleep transitions they'll be going through in the months to come.
It's really just a matter of a lo being able to stay up for 3 hours comfortably without being OT, that a catnap can be properly phased on.
Just taking a peek at your routine, I've noticed you've got an A time of: 2-2 half hours, 2-2 half hours, and then a final A time (if your catnap is unsuccessful) of 4 hours.
2.25-2.5 hours is perfect for your lo's age as he starts to get older you'll see he'll be able to stay up longer. 4 hours is too long for bed (if he doesn't have the catnap) - so you have two options:
1) I suspect that he's not very tired when you try to put him down for his catnap. He's had, by this time, two great naps of 2 hours and then 1.5 hours. 2 hours may be too early for him to go to go back to sleep for a catnap. Have you tried from 5-5:30? This would then push bedtime to between 7:30-8pm. Is there any APOP you can do to get him to sleep? Since this nap is going to be gone in a month or so, it's okay to do what you can to get him to sleep. Rocking, a stroll in the buggy, a car ride..anything so he's not OT by bedtime, ykwim?
OR.
2) Bring bedtime earlier. Yes, this will cause early mornings for a little while but your lo won't go to sleep OT. Again, this option is hard when your lo is still on 2.5 hours of A. I find this option will work better when they start approaching that 3 hours of A and you can push their A times a little bit more in the morning so you're not stuck with going to bed early everyday.
Does that help a bit? Try a later catnap and see if that's more successful. You'll have a later bedtime for a little while and then when he starts pushing out those As, you'll have an earlier bedtime...then everything will even out
