Entering the terrible twos

Chen An turned 20 months old in April 2014. And even though he is still 4 months away from being an actual 2 year old, he is very definitely smack in the middle of the terrible twos

From what G can recall, the terrible twos probably started when he turned 18 months old. The tantrums, the increasing need to force his independence and the escalating clinginess (and separation anxiety)

Chen An is a very vocal kid. G is constantly amazed by how much he can talk, and now, he is even stringing fairly complete sentences. Though still not 100% accurate, a few sentences has wow-ed his adult audience:

奶奶家在 Ang Mo Kio
没有 star/moon/狗狗/猫猫
Where is (enter object)?
(enter object) is there!

He has gotten into a habit of asking questions - what is this? where is _____? Fortunately, he does answer the questions himself, though a few times, G got stumped by his question e.g. when he pointed to a heavy vehicle on the road and G has no idea what is the proper name of vehicle.

This vocal nature is best pals with his endless and boundless energy. He can talk and talk and talk, while climbing and running and pointing out a dozen items to ask.  He is also a master of mimicking. Not just the words, but also the tone. He hears it once and then next thing you know, he comes up to you and mimics exactly what you have just said.

On a good day, he calmly waits for a response from the adult - be it answering his question or praising him. On a bad day, ignoring him or being slower to respond results in a full-blown tantrum.

On a brighter side, at least Chen An limits his tantrums at home...for now. In public, he does some screaming and crying, but so far, he has not tried the sprawling on the ground and kicking his legs act besides on the play mat at home.

Physically speaking, he is very agile and active. However, his sense of danger and safety fails to improve, and being easily distracted doubles his risk of tumbling and falling. Also at the age to test the adults' limits, the most frequent line heard at home is "Chen An, NO! You can fall/get hurt/break the (enter object)". G is still convinced that he has some form of ADHD -  a mild form which manifests as being easily distracted and not able to sit still for more than 2 mins. J argues that all kids are like that...hopefully J is correct and that Chen An will eventually grow out of this phase.

The terrible twos has begun early. G hopes that it means the phase will pass and end early too. One can only hope...