Two questions I could use some other mama help on

Like the title suggests - I have two (unrelated) questions and it’s immensely helpful to be able to get input from other mamas! I will make two posts because I feel there’s important info I need to include...so this way people don’t feel like they have to read one MASSIVE post and just two semi-long ones 😂

1 - Sleep related (naps). I feel like this has been the topic for the majority of things I have asked in this group. I never would have thought I’d run into so many sleep issues with this baby 😂

Anyway - My little guy had a great nap routine for awhile. Woke up around 6-6:30, 1st nap around 9:30 that lasted 1.5-2 hours, 2nd nap around 2:30 that lasted 1-1.5 hours, bed between 6:30-7. However, things have changed, which I know is to be expected to some extent. He got to where he wasn’t ready to go down at night, so everything started shifting a little later. Pushed bedtime to closer to 7:30, which pushed wake up to about 7 (which was totally ok with me!) and of course naps naturally moved back...but he was still napping good. Then all of a sudden he started all but completely dropping his afternoon nap. He’d go down and wake up after 30 minutes tops, but his morning nap was still pretty decent. I hesitated to switch him to one nap but thought I’d give it a try. He did good the first two days and slept about 2.5 hours, but now for the last 3 days, he’s barely napping for that one nap. I lay him down at about 12:30, just after lunch. He falls asleep well, but he’s waking up after only 45-50 minutes. He wakes up crabby and whiny, so I leave him be because usually that would mean he’d lay down and go back to sleep, but instead he sits in his crib and whines for a couple minutes, then seems to fully wake up and starts playing with his stuffed dog or his socks and won’t lay back down. The last 3 days he also doesn’t seem ready to go to bed at 7:30, he just wants to play and I’m struggling to get him to stay on our bedtime routine to settle down. The other night he didn’t fall asleep until 8:30, despite me doing everything the same as I always do. 8:30 is super late for him, he’s never gone to sleep that late.

The change where he drastically shortened his afternoon nap happened when my husband returned from being gone for work for an entire month. So I’m sure that change and the excitement was a factor. He LOVES his daddy. I also think not being ready for bed at 7:30 is related to dad too because it’s hunting season where I live, so on the weekends my husband hunts and gets home around 7. Naturally baby isn’t ready to go to bed, he wants to hang out with dad! But even when dad doesn’t hunt, he still isn’t ready to wind down.

What should I do here? Stick it out and hope he adjusts to dad being back and starts taking a longer nap? Try going back to two naps for the time being? He’s definitely tired by the time he’s done with lunch and also when bedtime comes, but it’s not like he’s crabby or I have to fight to keep him up...but maybe he wasn’t ready for two naps so he’s over tired? I’m really not sure...