Terrible Twos, Sweet Sixteen, What Not?

I am looking at the calendar and realised 2012 is ending and it suddenly dawns on me that my friend's daughter will be 3 soon. 

I can still remember how tiny she used to be at birth, cute eyes, little fingers and all of a sudden she has grown to become a little toddler.

People often refer to these precious little 2-year olds - terrible twos, because as I come to understand, they can be quite terrible human beings, horrible at that age.  

I was just joking, no they are not!  I think they are just discovering their personality at this stage.  The bad news is, depending on the personality they are choosing, they can become "Troublesome Three" the following year and remain troublesome for their whole lives!  Kidding again.  

I think calling them terrible twos is just an excuse for parents because each time their kids misbehave, they can just shrug it off and say "Oh Terrible Twos". 

Wouldn't it be great if we adults can have that sort of excuse too.  Say you were fighting with your partner in a restaurant and you turn to the waiter and go "Fussy Thirty-Twos"!

I can never quite understand Sweet Sixteen either.  Not sure many parents would agree their kids are exactly - sweet - at that age.  My 16 was donky years ago but I can't recall anything rebellious in my then existence, but looking at my auntie's son at dinner time, I really think the 16 year old these days should be genetically called:

"Texting-tweeting-no-I-won't-pull-my-ear-plug-out-of-my-iPod-during-dinner-I-hate-you-I-wish-I-was-never-borned-by-the-way-can-I-have-some-cash-cuz-I-have-used-up-my-cash-advances-sixteen". 

The name is a bit long but there you go.