Nap Time Gone???

Please, Please, Please say it isn't so. I have spent many an afternoon in tears over the past month because Sadie has suddenly decided to stop napping. (My sanity requires that 2 hour brake in the day!) So, is she done for good or is this some kind of fluke?

She did give up taking 2 naps a day quite a bit earlier than "experts" said babies should, so maybe she is just following her own pattern. However, on the days she doesn't nap she is the most ornery, whiny, misbehaved child that has ever crossed my path and she has a complete meltdown by about 5pm. This leads me to believe that she does, in fact, still need her nap. Why then is she not sleeping?

Many nights the problem is extending into her night time sleep. She has a hard time falling asleep. We will put her to bed around 7:30 or 8 and she will still be awake at 10. Many nights she starts screaming hysterically and when we go in she tells us that "the monsters are coming." This initially scared me. I thought she was having night terrors, until the night I opened the door and caught her smiling. Then as I walked closer and closer to her crib her smile faded into a scared look. This child is a master manipulator! I also don't think that she thinks the monsters are actually scary because I told her to say, "Go away monsters! I am not scared of you!" And she said, "No Mommy, the monsters are nice!" So, who knows why this girl can not ever calm down?

I follow the exact same routine I have been following for almost her entire life: After lunch we head straight upstairs, change the diaper, read a story, darken the room, turn on the fan, say good night. In the past she would be out like a light without a peep for a good 2 hours. Now it is maybe quiet for 10 minutes at which point she starts throwing things out of her crib, singing/yelling which quickly turns into crying. I have taken to leaving her in her crib for at least an hour to give her a chance to fall asleep or at the very least have a quiet time (which is never very quiet). She will take a nap about once a week, and those days usually turn into a 3 to 3.5 hr nap.

I have been trying like crazy to figure out what set this off and I can only come up with 2 things:

1. She really is ready to give up her nap but has not quite gotten used to going the whole day without sleep

2. I read an article today that said that "a major change or stressful event" can put kids off their naps. The only thing I can think of that has changed is that I have tried to introduce potty training. Do you think that potty training could cause enough anxiety to make her not nap?????

I welcome any suggestions because at the rate we are going one of us isn't going to survive...