A little after my daughter had her first birthday and started walking around unaided, she turned into a fucking monster. She had her delightful moments, sure, but they were often inexplicably interrupted by meltdowns of such exuberant power that she left us shell-shocked and exhausted once the fierce gale had passed. She was Jekyll and Hyde, and we were both her captive audience and reluctant victims.
Part of it was that she was growing a whole new set of (extra sharp) teeth, and part of it was the effects of toddler regression, wherein she was so thoroughly focused on learning a new skill (walking) that she temporarily regressed in other areas (like sleeping peacefully through the night, something we were damn lucky to have had up to that point). Both the teeth pain and the turbulent sleep made her cranky as hell and added fuel to those off-the-chart mood swings.
