Ds 1 is nearly 23 months old. When he's good he is an absolute delight & I could not be prouder. However when the mood takes him, & it frequently does, he can be the polar opposite.
We praise & reinforce good / desired behaviour & try & prevent, distract, diet or ignore as much of the not so good. Some of his behaviour can be completely unacceptable & I'm really not sure of the best way at this age to address this. Examples include deliberate hitting / scratching or pinching & throwing things (clothes, toys, a saucepan which he broke the handle on or anything else he can get his hands on). He does any of these seemingly for no reason at all or in a fit of temper because he hasn't got his own way on something or although his speech is very good he can't communicate exactly what he wants or we don't understand so gets frustrated. When it's frustration we're asking him to show us etc. but then if it's something he can't have, like the bread knife, he kicks off in temper. Last week he deliberately scratched my face twice,hard enough to leave visible scratch marks. Once was in temper while I picked him up & the other was for seemingly no reason at all, he just walked over wrote I was sitting on the floor to give me a kiss or so I thought, & dug his nail in as hard as he could & when I managed to release his grip from my face he started pulling my hair.
How can I manage / discipline / deal with this type of behaviour in way that is appropriate for his age & gets the message across that what he's done is unacceptable? We tell him very firmly with a raised voice not to do x as it's not nice, we don't do x, to stop it if he carries on (which he quite often does the determined little terror!). Sometimes he listebs & stops, more often than not he starts to do whatever with a bit more speed & determination & laughs at us.
Please help!