Tired of Negotiations and Badgering

So my three year old has had enough of Mommy being slow. He's issuing demands and whining pretty much any time there's unscheduled time.

For example, yesterday I picked him up from school and took him to the Urbana Free Library. He wanted me to play with him in the Little Tikes Playhouse. I managed to crawl in to play firehouse with him -- but the stitches didn't care much for hands and knees movement. So I told him that I'd have to sit still. A call came into the fire station and we had to get out and get to the truck. I didn't move quickly. I stayed there. He whined about me not playing. When I told him I couldn't, he told me I wasn't sick any more. I had to move. Sigh.

I crawled out and told him I could drive the firetruck (they have benches in a firetruck designed space in the library), but that was it. He sighed this big, pathetic sigh. Then he said, "Maybe we could play at the train table?" I told him yes, but reminded him that I can't get up and down easily or bend over easily. He told me to walk around the table. I told him I needed to bend over to reach the trains. He got upset. "Here, do this basket!" I asked him not to be so bossy. And he sighed again.

Finally, I asked him to play by himself while I found some books and a Scooby Doo video to take home. Then we went home and I fed him dinner. Then while my dinner was cooking I was met with, "Play with me!" And, of course, he wants to play things that require -- crawling around on the floor.

KTDID, thankfully, distracted him for a while, even though she'd had a long day too, so I could cook dinner for us. Then he whined that we didn't need to eat dinner. We needed to play with him.

So for the last 15 hours, I have felt like I'm on some kind of tight rope. I want to play. Normally, I would play. But I'm exhausted. He's played with kids all day. He's gone to a special place and spent time with Mom. He's been fed. Can't he just sit still with a toy and watch TV and chill out like 90 percent of his peers? Just for an hour, so I can eat and calm down? I keep saying NO. He keeps protesting. I stop answering. He starts whining more.

Seriously. I know he's disappointed that I'm broken from surgery. I know he's only 3 and not really understanding of empathy. But it's annoying the 'eff' out of me.