I can't believe my boys are more than six months old before we used the van ride trick!!
My parents said they used this all the time with my oldest sister, Ellie, who was a difficult one to get to sleep. They'd dress her in pajamas and go for a ride in the van until she fell asleep. Worked every time! (Until they tried bringing her in the house, of course.)
The boys only slept for forty-five minutes yesterday afternoon and were obviously still tired when they woke up. But they didn't want to go down again. So Andy and I packed them up in their carseats and headed to the grocery store. The plan: I would shop for the Thanksgiving stuff I still needed and Andy would drive around, letting the boys sleep. It worked. Like a charm.
When we came home an hour later, the boys were happy because they slept, mommy was happy to get out and get what she needed (by herself,) and daddy was happy because mommy was happy.
Gee, why didn't we think of this sooner?