How's Sleep Going?

How's the boys' sleep going, you ask? Well, that's an interesting subject right now. Currently, their nighttime sleep is wonderful. I haven't had to go into their room in the middle of the night in ages. Sure, there's an occasional wake-up but he'll fall back asleep within a couple minutes. Only when they're sick do they have their off nights (yeah, a couple months ago, Liam was waking up a bunch the night his cold kicked in, so we tried bringing him into our bed to sleep. We thought it might help him get better rest since we'd be there to cuddle him. Hmph, never again, never again. Worst night of sleep ever, for all three of us.)

They seem to have a periodic cycle of waking up really early and waking up at a decent time. The latter month and a half are much happier for us all.

Naps, however, have been a puzzlement the last week. Previously, I'd put them down about five hours after their morning wake up time, they'd read in their cribs for 10-20 minutes and sleep for right around an hour and a half. Quite reliable.

Recently, though, they've been taking FOREVER to fall asleep. This used to happen once every couple weeks but in the last week it's been every day. We're talking 1.5-2 hours before they finally conk out. Two hours, people! They talk to each other, they talk to themselves, they throw their stuffed animals and blankets around. Dash has been extra silly, constantly taking his clothes off (thankfully the diaper remains on) and trying to play with the curtain. He even successfully got out of his crib a couple days ago (our first escapee!). There was a huge thud, a big wail, and a second big wail. I don't think Dash really meant to get out and it made Liam really upset to see him hurt. They went to sleep soon after- I think they learned their lesson that day.

I don't really know what I should do about this. I don't really want to make them hang out in their crib for two hours a day. And it makes it really super hard to plan on doing anything in the afternoon. We don't do a lot outside of the home in the mornings because they notoriously fall asleep in their car seats if they have an ounce of tiredness in them (and we can't have that, now can we). Have any of you faced this? Any magic cure or means of transition? I'm really considering black-out blinds, thinking a dark room would help them fall asleep faster. I welcome your thoughts, one and all!

(now go back and look at those pictures again, they're too sweet)