Hi Michelle,
This is the hard part of training your babies to understand that you are the mommy and what you want is more important than what they want. If your little fellow sleeps in his crib fine at night then you know he can and his fussing during the day is a choice he's making. It's crazy to think that babies have stubborn wills but they do sometimes and it's up to us to teach them that what we say goes. When my husband and I were deciding what our daily routine was going to be with my daughter, who is now 15 months old, we put her down for her naps awake and let her self soothe and put herself to sleep. It was horrible at first. There is nothing worse than listening to your baby cry BUT now we are reeping great benefits. She goes to bed at 8, awake, and sleeps until 7:30 or 8 in the morning without a peep, unless we're teething or sick. And she naps every day from 1:00 to 2:30 like clockwork. We had to teach her this. It was not easy but I learned that in order for us to be good mommies to our children, we have to take care of ourselves also. You need those two hours a day to maintain your home, rest yourself, talk to friends, read, whatever. If your little guy learns that he can control your day now, just think how it will be when he's 2 and 3 with a full blown will and very mobile!! Sorry I wrote you a book. =) Hope some of this helps. Bottom line, you decide when you want him to nap and put him down, crying will not hurt him, and it may take up to a week but he will learn that when you put him in his crib it is time to sleep and you are not coming to get him until you are ready. You can do it!
A.