The terrible twos are starting early, and it SUCKS!!!!

Wow! lol That's crazy... one thing I will promote is sign language. My son is now 16 months old and I think we have really really saved ourself quite a few temper tantrums by the use of signing. Granted, he still will throw a temper tantrum now and again (I think like yours, he is starting the "terrible two" syndrom early! lol) but it's not nearly as bad as a few other children his age that I have seen get very frustrated. so not sure if you already are teaching that but I though i'd throw that at and good luck! :)

Well, my daughter is now 9 but I can relate to your problems. When she was 18 months old she walked out of the yard to one of my cousin's home and was found by a taxi driver. I was at work but I heard that my mother almost fainted. I heard this about five years after. My little one was a walker, talker and eater. She used to eat stones, dirt anythign that could go in her mouth. My mother "caged" her in a crib. She would climb too and pull things down on heself but the kitchen - for some reason or the other, she would never go there. He is learning and experimenting I think you need to watch this little man closely though. Wouldnt want him getting "shocked".

That is funny, my niece has a 21 month old and he too is going into the terrible twos. Oh boy is he a handful. He yells, he screams, he kicks, he throws things, he can be nightmare to handle, but luckily it is only temporary, my twin cousins are 2 1/2 now and they are little angels, they are also very smart, but do be aware that they keep you on your toes. Depending on how you or the father were when you were children is how your child will be. So, if you both were hyper, the child will be hyper, if you both were calm, the child will be calm, if one of you was hyper and one of you were calm, it will depend on the genetics. All in all, have fun!

kids always go wild without any notice, but its normal, they become notorious at this age itself

sounds like you need to install locks, and initiate time out. My sister had to install a fridge door lock the day her son tipped it over by swinging on the door. luckily, he wasn't hurt, but now we have locks on all our fridges. They are plastic, and have a buckle that keeps the door closed, up out of the reach of small kids. Yesterday, I caught my daughter who's 22 months, standing on a kitchen chair, playing with glasses in the sink, and this morning, when I went to put laundry in the dryer, she was hiding in it. looks like I need to get the baby gate out again

I would say that there should be rules to be set. Maybe it is your attention he desires. Still discipline is important for a young child to learn. Children can understand clearly when you sit them down and make the tone of your voice different and take the time to look in their eyes and calmly ask waht they need. If there is no response, tell them that kind of attitude won't be tolerated in the house. There will be punishments of time outs. You should have integrity and authority in enforcing your rules. You must understand the child first before chosing your choice of action. I really recommend the facial expression. It is like sign but most kids get it.

Red seems to be a popular permanent marker choice for that age group! Both of my children have contributed to the red art on the couches and my daughter has also tried out pen. Both have written and colored on the walls in my son's bedroom and the upstairs hallway. Both of my kids have colored on my son's tv with crayon as well. They both have done body art with various types of writing utensils as well. We put locks on our drawers with our son but he learned within days how to work them. Same goes for the lock on the fridge that the other replier mentioned though that one actually worked the longest. We had to put a lock on both our basement and bathroom doors to prevent disasters. I would say the first thing you can do is designate a room that can be locked to HIDE stuff. Playdough, pens, pencils, crayons, markers and such. Gates or locks to rooms like the bathroom or kitchen. That will work about 50% of the time and if you are lucky you might even have a 75% working rate! One day we didn't have the bathroom locked and my daughter put an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet after unrolling it, then took it out and rubbed it all over the floor. Something else that has helped a little: my daughter has a great fondness for drawing so I try to watch her constantly (ha- like that really works) and I will try to hand her a piece of paper as soon as I see that she has found a stray crayon or pen lying around. She will usually neglect to tell me that she wants to draw- she will just find the first thing that her choice works on. I also now keep a pad of paper out for her and tell her where it is often.

Ahhhh....I remember those days. THANK GOD THEY ARE OVER! LOL. We had a son that colored EVERYWHERE! Black sharpie...dont know how he got them but he always had them and when we werent looking ALL OVER IT WENT! Good Luck!

I honestly believe that the terrible twos are just a state of mind. I was warned about them with my first child and I refused to believe that it 'had to' happen as everyone told me. It took a lot of work but we both came out unscathed. Children of any age need constant attention and amusement. Left to their own devices then yes they will get up to untold mischief and life can be terrible. Ensure that things you don't want you child having unsupervised aren't left laying around in reach. Also make sure that there are plenty of activities and stimulating toys available for the child. Have them all around the house for them to find. By the sounds of it your child needs more stimulation. Try teaching colors, numbers and the good old abc. Animal sounds and names are also great. Teaching sign is great as mentioned by others. Even establishing your own family sign language can help greatly with communication difficulties