My DD definitely became more difficult around that age. Since then her level of difficulty comes and goes in waves. She was really hard for a few weeks, then gradually got easier. Now she is going through the having to do everything herself or ELSE stage.

You may be onto something with the family drama/stress impacting on him though. Little ones are more aware of these things than we think. A few years ago when my hubby was going through chemo and I was pregnant with DD, I noticed a big change in my DS's behaviour (he was not quite 2 at the time). As things got better in our lives, he got better too.

Good luck - it can definitely be a challenging age.