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Mine does the same too. She is 4 1/2. One thing that helps pre-empt (sp?) the situation is I plan ahead for her desire for choice. I think a big part of it is that she's testing to see how much freedom of choice she has. If I tell her it's "time to go in 5 min" or "soon" then she has warning. She knows (most of the time) that she can go down the slide for that whole 5 mins or swing - it's her choice. When I want her to get dressed I often will pick out a few acceptable items and let her choose between them. It gives her a chance to choose. I also taught her Eny, Meny, Miny, Moe to help her choose between more than one thing that she wants. She loves doing the game and I can tell she does it even when she already knows what she DOES want. As for certain things like bedtime when it's not got a lot of option I give her a choice in another area. I do have an alarm clock in her room and one time when she argued with me about when to go to bed I told her she could choose when to get up but when to go to bed. I offered to set the alarm for her and told her what times she could choose. She loved that idea. Since she got that choice she hasn't asked me to set it anymore and she usually cooperates with bedtime.
Our battle is at dinner time but that is improving. Made a firm stand just once and it will start to get easier. It may amaze you. You might feel like a stubborn meanie at the time but the payoff is well worth the effort.
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"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma. 
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