DS is 12 and a half months old and for a couple of months now (since shortly after starting nursery) has been patting me on the head (not that hard until recently) when I picked him up. ALthough it looked like he was slapping me, it wasn't seeming malicious so I ignored it. He has started now to do this a bit harder and saying "Err!" before he does it - and sometimes it bloomin hurts! I have started to grab his hand and say "No!" in a stern voice, and occasionally "Don't hit mummy that's not nice!" He also (and this is sometimes in temper or when he is tired) grabs my face/neck and squeeezes and digs his nails in from time to time.
Now I know that this is often normal but how do you deal with it? Stern "No!" is often met with a repeat of the same. Moving him somewhere else such as his cot often has not much impact. My DP seems keen to do it back to him (very gently) but I strongly warned him off doing this as I think that a)DS would then think slapping/grabbing is OK) and b)in order for this to be in any way noticeable you would have to actually hurt DS so not an option really.
He's generally a pleasant and 'chilled out' sort of baby, very uncomplicated mostly but I am at a loss as to what to do about this as I don't want to make the problem worse!