Hey Mikey, it worked!!!

Well wonders never cease. I gave him a time out and he sat there. And hated it. It was beautiful. I received some great advice from you parents of toddlers and decided to give this whole "time out" thing a couple more tries. No more time outs in his toy/book-stuffed room. And i'm not yet doing the "1-2-3" pre-time out warning. I'm trying not to jump the gun or be harsh, but when he's doing stuff he KNOWS is wrong (screaming, hitting, throwing food/toys/tantrums) i'll calmly say, "you need a time out" and set him on an adult chair. I was a bit worried that he'd fall off and break his neck, but so far he's not nose-dived or tried to escape. The first time I did this, I sat him on the chair and turned around. When I got to the kitchen, he was still sitting on it, looking at me with a worried expression. I about fell over. I fully expected him to jump off and throw himself into a full-blown tantrum. But he just sat there. Then he protested and made the sign for "help me." When I ignored that he went into full-on charm mode. Looked at me and gave me his biggest smile, then erupted into hysterical laughter. I remain stonefaced (serious willpower). He then threw his head back and howled. At that point the kitchen timer went off and I pulled him down. Amazing.