Hitting

      Today David is 18 months old and what a personality, however he's got a problem with hitting us. Sometimes it seems like he's just overly excited, he doesn't seem to do it as much when he's mad, cause he sometimes laughs.

     My daughter, his mom, grabs his hand tells him either not to hit or that hitting is not nice and says no while leading him to a minute or so in a time out area on the stairs. He sits quietly in time out but then he gets out and hits again when he feels like it.

     Any ideas out there how to stop this behavior?