To Nap or Not To Nap

Naps.  Waverly was 4 when she stopped napping.  She started waking up in the middle of the night and we thought it was because she was taking a nap during the day.  (Little did we know it was Sanfilippo and its crazy sleep disturbances.)  Oliver just turned 3, but the past few weeks he has been a terrible sleeper.  We will hear him through the monitor and he will be up for hours in the middle of the night talking, laughing, moving around.  He rarely cries.  He will then take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  On Monday he would not take a nap - very unlike him.  So we skipped the nap and that night he slept beautifully...from 7:15 pm thru 7:00 am.  Wow!  I didn't let him nap Tuesday and that night we had the same result.  Yesterday, Matt and I were at doctor appointments with Waverly all afternoon and Preti was home with Oliver.  He kept going to his crib, so she laid him down.  Of course he was up before 5:00 am this morning.

My question is, do I force him to stay awake in the afternoons so he can have a better night's sleep?  He seems young to give up a nap, but maybe he would be better off having 11 straight hours of sleep instead of interrupted segments.  Thoughts???