If the kids are having a hard time falling asleep for their naps at daycare, the staff will pat them in a heartbeat rhythm as they lay on their mats. The girls at daycare told me that all the kids, at some point, will mimic this with dolls.  Once Kyla started taking daycare naps on the mats (about December-ish, I think), she brought home this "patting down" ritual.  I thought I'd try to document her doing this before she stops. 

Kyla, of course, didn't start doing this with dolls.  She started with me.  There are a couple other variations from daycare, too - she doesn't "pat", she "whacks" and when patting down me, she climbs on top and "rides" me!  The whole time, she instructs you to keep your head down on the mat.  As you can imagine, this isn't very comfortable for the "napper"!  I was glad to see her move on to include other items.

 
Kyla putting mommy to sleep - by riding her!!!
(The mommy is cropped out of the picture)
 

She didn't go for the doll right away.  She just used whatever she had in front of her.  Most of the time, it's her sippy cup.  Whatever it is, it just needs to be covered by a blanket.  She's very particular about how the blanket falls and it may take several tries before she gets this just right.  She sometimes pulls down pillows to make mats for her "nappers" or will spread out a blanket.  She will also pat things down in her crib or on her lap.  I've even seen her pat things down in the bathtub.  She covered a cup with her washcloth, started patting and whispering "shhhhh"!
 

Carefully covering the calculator

Shhhhh to the juice...

Getting assistance with her pats

Time to nap, calculator!

Showing mommy how to pat the juice,
while Kyla pats down the calculator

She will use dolls.  Here she is just up from a nap and is putting a stuffed rabbit to sleep.  She seems to do this a lot when she's sleepy or just waking up.  It's actually been a nice signal for me that it's time to take a nap or that she's getting ready for bed.

Using the draft catcher from our door

Multi-tasking