Yeah, it's really common for the 1/2 ages (1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2) to be really rough. Developmentally, they're growing a TON and it just makes it difficult for them to deal with new big emotions. And it's basically hell for a little while. 
This book Your Two-Year-Old: Tender or Terrible?
, despite the slightly hyperbolic title, is actually really good and laying it all out, in terms of their development. Your library probably has it. I've read it, and I'm reading the 3-year-old one right now (it's a series) and I'm just nodding my head going, "Yep, uh-huh, that's him, OMG!" It's incredibly reassuring to read that everything you're going through is normal and to be expected and, most importatly, that it will NOT last forever, nor does it say anything about your child's long-term temperment! I'm not crazy about some of their proposed solutions (i.e., in the 3-year-old book, they pretty much say over and over just to put your kid in preschool/day-care or get a mommy's helper, because the kids aren't so horrible to third parties - um, not going to change the way I parent because of a phase, so it's a little useless for me.) BUT the info on the child development is right on.
This book Your Two-Year-Old: Tender or Terrible?
, despite the slightly hyperbolic title, is actually really good and laying it all out, in terms of their development. Your library probably has it. I've read it, and I'm reading the 3-year-old one right now (it's a series) and I'm just nodding my head going, "Yep, uh-huh, that's him, OMG!" It's incredibly reassuring to read that everything you're going through is normal and to be expected and, most importatly, that it will NOT last forever, nor does it say anything about your child's long-term temperment! I'm not crazy about some of their proposed solutions (i.e., in the 3-year-old book, they pretty much say over and over just to put your kid in preschool/day-care or get a mommy's helper, because the kids aren't so horrible to third parties - um, not going to change the way I parent because of a phase, so it's a little useless for me.) BUT the info on the child development is right on.
