Toddler puts hands over ears/face

She doesn't want to nap during the day either, even though she's so tired...
No matter how long I try, whether early or a bit later, she wants to get up right away...
In the evening, she even has trouble falling asleep, I always have to sit next to her, and it takes about half an hour before it works.
No idea why it's so difficult, maybe she's overtired?
And that's why she's doing those hands...

She doesn't want to sleep during the day either, even though she's so tired... No matter how long I try, whether early or a bit later, she wants out right away... In the evening, she even struggles to fall asleep, I always have to sit next to her, and it takes about half an hour before it works. No idea why it's so difficult, maybe she's overtired? And that's why she's doing those hand gestures...

As for the hands, could that be linked to a shy phase? Just a way she deals with situations that still feel a bit scary to her?
Mine crawls super close to me in tense situations that I sometimes think she wants to crawl back into my belly. Once the ice is broken, she’s fine and goes about her business.
What have you already tried to help her sleep better, besides adjusting the timing?

When we're visiting, I think that's when she does it. She actually sneaks a peek at us when we're holding her, to see who's there, and if someone looks at her, she hides again with her hands on the side... After about 15 minutes, she starts to relax a bit.

But she does it at home too. During poop time, I can understand it when you look at her—she does it, maybe like "don't look, I'm pooping.." haha. But she also sometimes walks to the back of the living room, and I say "R. Where are you?" just as a joke, and then she puts her hands to her head and says softly "here..." but then I think, why does she do that with her hands? Or she's in the bath playing, and I ask "Are you comfortable?" She drops everything and does the hand thing again...

Regarding sleep, we used to have a fixed routine with bath time included. Unfortunately, she would get red and spotty from every daily shower/bath, so now we limit it to 3 or 4 times a week, so it couldn't be part of the routine anymore. Now we keep it short and simple, but as soon as you leave her room, she screams.

If you do the 5-minute method and check on her each time, she's crying and upset in between. Then I have to change everything again and feel it's too sad to try again. If she doesn't nap in the afternoon, it's fairly easy to sit next to her in the evening and wait until she falls asleep. If she does nap in the afternoon, around 12 for 1 or 1.5 hours, then she won't sleep earlier than 11 PM in the evening, and no matter how long you sit next to her, it doesn't work well on time...

Her crib is even in our room so I can lie next to her on my bed, because now I'm 35 weeks pregnant and sitting in a chair next to her wasn't an option...

But soon I'll have 2, one of whom has such a hard time falling asleep...

And sometimes in the morning after 11 and a half hours of sleep, she's so tired but still doesn't want to nap in the afternoon..

Thanks for your replies!

I don't know if this helps you, but I'll describe my little one's (just turned 2) bedtime routine. Maybe there's something useful for you in there. I can imagine you're feeling discouraged if it's such a struggle.

Around 6:45, or let's say 6:45 in the evening, I or my dad tell her it's time to go to bed. Then she's allowed to say goodnight to the pets and the parent staying downstairs, a goodnight kiss, etc. Then she's allowed to climb the stairs herself because she wants to do as much as possible on her own. First, brush teeth: she tries first, then we brush after her. Sometimes she takes a bath, but that's only a few times a week. Then she goes to the toilet for potty training, which we're doing without pressure or stress. Then pajamas on and we read a story together. When the story is finished, she always says goodnight to the little dolls in the book; they get a kiss too. Then a sip of water from her cup and under the covers. One time she falls asleep right away, and another time she has to cry a bit. But often she's quiet after 10 minutes. If not, we check what's up but still tell her she needs to sleep. All in all, we spend about 30 to 45 minutes from start to finish, but after 7:30 PM it's usually quiet until 8 AM the next morning. In the afternoon, she sleeps from 2 PM to 4 PM.

Since her birthday, she's been sleeping in a grow-with-me bed, so she can get out on her own. She can't leave her room because she can't reach the door handle. Very occasionally we notice she got out to play with her dollhouse in the dark, or turned on the lamp to play or look at books, and fell asleep in bed with her books. Sometimes I double over internally when I see what she's gotten up to.

The last few weeks in her crib, falling asleep was harder, probably because she wanted to get out. With the grow-with-me bed, it improved immediately. Although we had to look again at what we stored where in the room so she couldn't, for example, go off to paint with Sudocreme unnoticed.