Naptime wars

My child hates me.

No, really, he does. And all thanks to naptime.

Havoc has reached a really, um, let's say independent, stage. He doesn't want to be fed, he wants to hold the spoon himself. He doesn't want to use bottles, he wants cups. (Both of those things end in catastrophic messes, in case you were wondering.) He doesn't want to be carried, he wants to walk.
And he absolutely, positively, DOES NOT WANT TO NAP.
Kid is so damned tired that he's lying down on the ground and closing his eyes, yawning, rubbing his eyes raw, but if I dare be so cruel as to put him to bed, I am invariably treated to the screaming fit that I am listening to right this second. He sometimes even falls asleep while he's putting on his display of defiance, but then he wakes back up a moment later and resumes, as if jolted awake by the recollection that "I don't want to nap, no matter how tired I might be, and YOU CAN'T MAKE MEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Ugh.

Oh, right now he's doing the lie down and scream bit, because he's actually too tired to keep standing. Here in a moment, he'll catch a second wind and stand back up, but all I can think is, "Well, at least it's quieter when he's lying down..."

I don't get it! When I'm tired, all I can think about is how good a nap would be! Why must he fight it so?! And, to make matters worse, even if I go get him right this second, he's going to be mad at me all day long for being so evil as to want him to sleep a little when he's exhausted.

He totally hates me.