When Did My Ball of Snuggles Turn into a Ball of Wild?

Sayer's almost 18 months old.  Which, in and of itself, is a bit hard for me to grasp.  I don't know whether it was his personality or the fact he was a boy or even that he was the third child...  but he has always, always been the kid to fully embrace being the baby.

But now?  Now he's a TODDLER.  And being a TODDLER does not warrant being treated like a BABY.

The high chair has been utterly scorned in favor of the elevated kid chair.  (Which works out fine so long as his peanut butter and jelly painted face doesn't decide to go on a rogue mission in the midst of lunch).  The sippy cup is eschewed any time he catches sight of an open cup without a lid.  (This does NOT go over well as he's still mastering the cup arts and tends to dump the contents all over his shirt and lap).  Don't even think about carrying him when the opportunity arises for him to possibly walk.  Never mind that he likes to walk in the opposite direction of his sister. In parking lots. Where people DRIVE LARGE METAL CARS.

Yeah.  He turned 1.5, (well, almost), and suddenly he acquired some seriously strong opinions.

But I can handle all of that.  It happened in varying degrees to the girls.  It'll happen to his little brother.

But here's where I'm polishing off my crash helmet and asking, "what the HECK?!"

He's changed into the Jekyll and Hyde of snuggles/attacks.  He'll climb up into my lap and ask, "Hug?"  (Yeah, try denying that).  So we'll hug and he'll be resting his head on my shoulder when all of the sudden, he moves his head slightly, opens his mouth, and BITES me.  Of course, I screech, pry him off of my shoulder, and push his head away from my body while saying, "NO BITING!  NO!"

And he giggles, says, "BITE!" and dives in again.  So I fend him off with my hands.  When he realizes he can't bite me, he settles for repeatedly head-butting me instead. While laughing his pumpkin head off.  Eventually, I peel him off of my lap, stand up, and walk away.  Non-plussed, he'll go to play.

And then he comes back.  "Hug?  Kiss?"  And we'll snuggle for a minute until he gets that gleam in his eye... "biiiiiiiite.... BITE!"  And comes headlong at my skin for a nibble.

Wash.  Rinse. Repeat.  Sometimes we pass up the bites for head-butts.  If I'm on the ground in any fashion, he passes up both for full layout tackles.  "TACKLE!"  (Which he tends to confuse with "tickle" so he's often covering both bases by tackling and then tickling).

If I'm reading something / using a computer or a phone / trying to eat a snack, he's generally climbing on my head or shoulders.

Granted, the kid definitely still likes his snuggles.  But being that I can't ever tell when he's going to get all feisty, I can't relax...  He's like a little ninja.  A ninja with big dimples and a totally disarming smile.  I'm never going to win.

(Hmmm, wonder where he gets that look from... and the mischievous streak?  Yeah, thought so).

(And yes, we're obviously working on teaching him not to bite, etc.)