At his age, I think all you can do is teach by example. He's so young, and even if he does understand what "no hitting" means, he's very likely not able to control himself in the moment and not hit. Little ones learn best by doing, so try all you can to teach him with your actions... if you see him raise his hand to hit, gently take it and guide it down and say "No hitting. Hitting hurts. We use gentle hands."

Have him be your shadow from now on. It would be great if you found time to follow him around a bit as he plays because that's probably where the behavior is coming out... so while he can learn to stop being aggressive with you, where he really need to learn to stop being aggressive is with the other kids. The best way to teach him how is to get in there with him and the other kids and show by example.

I don't do time-out, and especially not for little ones. Time-out and separating him from the group and other forms of punishment like this will stop his behavior, but it won't teach him not to do it or HOW to behave correctly in the long run.

Good luck!

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