We go in and get the food together and bring it out to the table. I make quite a big production of him carrying the stuff etc... (I use plastic of course!)
He eats.
Then he plays with his sand table, his car or slides, tools or whatever is out back at the time for about 15 minutes or so...then I say it is time to bring the dishes in to wash up and I put him up on his chair at the sink and he helps me wash up the lunch plates/bowls and plays for a bit in the sink. So this way he is inside and unwinding a bit and then we carry on indoors as usual to nap.
Today, we actually washed the bowls with the hose outside and then to get him in I told him we had to bring everything inside but he was not interested in coming in.
So, I did one of my other favourite transitional activities and let him play in the car for 5-10 min which is at the front of the house and then he got fed up and we went inside.
The other day he spotted his swing on the front porch and decided to go in there for 5 min. All that swinging, just zoning out looking at the trees made him very sleepy, it was great and he was beggin for his bed and he napped 2.5 hours that day!
Might make that a transition to have up my sleeve as well.
Aisling x
