My little Colton is two, now, and he's still napping in the afternoon, HOWEVER, his sleepiness and bedtime are all dependent on whatever else might be going on.
I've never been one to enforce a strict schedule and I'm very lucky I don't have to, but this is what I would do:
Create a nighttime ritual that would begin say about an hour before sleep time and have it involve perhaps a light, soothing snack, something non sugary and fairly bland perhaps sugar free yogurt or cottage cheese, a piece of string cheese, etc.
Then we would brush our teeth, wash our face (or bathe briefly), and read a book, tell stories and/or sing songs quietly or watch a tv program quietly (there are lots of GREAT DVDs for little ones that are bedtime oriented like Goodnight, Moon or Where the Wild Things Are, Baby Einstein, etc.) and then work on tucking in to bed.
Try to curtail lots of physical activity at least two hours prior to bed (I know how hard this can be with toddlers, believe me), and if things are still too rowdy or she fights it, you might add in a little soothing back and body massage w/some of the sleepy-oriented lotions for babies (they sell them at baby stores, even some major grocery and variety stores), even things you can put in the bath to help them relax.
I've never had too much trouble with my toddlers sleeping though they do get somewhat stubborn about sleep sometimes, my philosophy has been to let them go til they collapse basically but with some of the above, I can "enforce" a bedtime if I want to, they just don't know that I'm doing it.
Good luck with this.
Liz M.
