At what age does your gorgeous lovable baby turn in to a child that you find difficult?

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

Based on other people's comments and how we were brought up, I'm assuming that my 9 mo DD will turn in to a 'normal child' i.e. is no longer cute, no longer produces surges of utterly adoringness from me, pushes all of my buttons almost constantly and falls off the pedastal for good.

Is this really true and when does it start to happen

my nearly 5yo has not yet turned into a difficult child.
my 19mo on the other hand has always been, ahem, difficult.

My DCs are 11.5 and 9.5.
They remain cute.
They still produce surges of "utter adoringness".
And they are very good at clambering back onto the pedastal.
But they can also push the boundaries and be revel in complete smart-arsery on occasion.
All a natural part of growing up.
Don't be sad.
Do be prepared!

(DS1 didn't have a tantrum until he was 9 years old.
DS2 started having them at about 16 months, and now gives master classes to less vocal children at evenings and weekends. )

Well my difficult, sleepless, constantly crying (and frankly just generally annoying) baby turned into a cute, loving, cuddly, opinionated, curious, enthusiastic, stubborn, sensitive toddler. I personally find him more fun and if possible love him more than as a baby. I assume this may change though as he gets older.

DS is nearly 3 now and does have spells of being an annoying little beast (see the reins thread grrrrr) but just as many spells of being cute, funny, adorable and a source of smug pride.

i found my ds difficult at around 2 but not for long we found time out and worked a treat within a week he was back to his fun self but he has speech delay so can get frustrated

dd is starting to get a bit difficult now (15 months) and can be quite hard work some days, especially like the last 2 days when she's gone from 2 naps a day, to none.

But she still does so many utterly adorable things, and it makes my heart melt when she says mummy, that you forgive the difficult behaviour!

This is all very reassuring - I was so hoping that I'd got it wrong!