Sleepy Squirt

This is what happened when I took Ellie for a walk around the block after fighting her 3rd nap for 1 & 1/2 hours yesterday afternoon. I fought her as long as I could until she had to eat again. (Unfortunately it looks like Ellie has her mama's stubborn streak.) It's funny how she can protest for that long in her crib and then just pass out. This has been a trend the last week, especially at bedtime, screaming in protest because she doesn't want to go to sleep, even though she is indeed tired! It has not been fun at all. In fact, it has been downright stressful! She has always fussed a little bit at bedtime but not like this. We have been trying everything to little avail. The last few nights she has cried AT LEAST an hour! I guess we should have expected this to happen at some point with Ellie being such a curious little girl.
It's so hard to know the right way to handle this with her...so many people claim to have the answer but you never know what is best for your child. We have been praying/begging the Lord for wisdom in this. We hesitantly tried to do cry it out a few nights ago but we just couldn't follow through. She got so upset after crying for so long that she couldn't breathe through her nose and therefore couldn't soothe herself by sucking her thumb. I couldn't stand it and neither could Brad. Last night I tried the pick up/put down method and after 25 minutes she was sound asleep. But she had also been up since 1:30 in the afternoon after fighting her late afternoon nap. So more than likely she was just plain pooped! I guess we'll find out tonight.