He's So Beautifully Two!

Anyone who has experience raising a two year old, please answer me this:

Why does Jeremy refuse to let Barb (aka "Bumble") to put him to bed, only to fidget and squirm and refuse to lay on his pillow for MamaNay, a nightly script where the penultimate scene depicts Jeremy hitting MamaNay in the face -- for suggesting that it is time to go to sleep -- and yelling at the top of his lungs for Bumble?

AAAACCCCCKKKKK!

Mind you, this is not a situation where the mommies are making the boy go to bed unreasonably early (even if we have fantasies of doing so). This all happens around 9:45pm or so. It doesn't matter what we do and how early we "go up to bed." He doesn't fall asleep until 10pm.

And, yes, he is tired enough. Today's activities included an hour's worth of non-stop paddling in the pool, his music/dance class, and tromping through the park. Most two-year-olds would be crashing around 8 or 8:30pm after the activities we put Jeremy through.

Why won't he just drift off to sleep gratefully?