RE: My son is a hitter!
I tend to agree. While a 17 month old may not get everything you say, they do have a VERY large receptive vocabulary. I also don't think that's too young for some form of time out. Probably not the clasic "sit in a chair in a corner" type time out, but a removal from the situation and being made to wait some specified period of time before being allowed to resume play.
And its never too early to start talking to them about other ways to respond to situations. They are little sponges and soak everything up. So while they may not yet have the developmental capacity to stop and think through what to do in a situation, they are not too young to learn that hitting is not an approved behavior and that aggressive behavior has consequences.
But while my talk is good, yesterday DD shoved a child at playgroup who wanted to toy she had. Looking back I see that I should have done some things differently. Its not always easy on the heat of the moment to think things through yourself, LOL!
Good luck!
Beth, mom to older DD (8/01) and younger DD (10/06) and always missing Leah (4/22 - 5/1/05)