Am I Raising the Biggest Bully?

Aiden has REALLY started getting aggressive. I can't tell if he is being a bully or if flailing his arms all over the place, hitting anyone and everyone, and creating chaos is just his only way of communicating. I noticed this happening in church nursery last week. I was the lead teacher and we had three kids in there. An 18 month old, and then a boy 2 weeks younger then Aiden (just turned one on Wed.) and Aiden. Aiden was going around hitting the other two kids. Seemed like he was happy and wasn't really pursuing what they had but it still made the other two kids upset when it happened. I redirected him and told him he had to be nice to his friends, but come on, let's face it, he is 11 months old and his ability to reason isn't there. So, this past week I have been watching him closer in this department. The poor dog runs away when Aiden gets going and has received the brunt of his beatings. Alexis has gotten clobbered a few times, not to mention my poor computer, the dvd player and any other electronics that don't stand a chance at getting away from him. He will hit your face when you are holding him and can get you pretty good if you aren't on guard. Even his babysitter said the other day that she had to raise her voice at him for the first time because he clocked her pretty good in the nose. Of course when you correct him he gets all poochie lipped for a few seconds and then returns to the hitting task at hand.

Am I raising the bully or is he just so excited and his hands happen to be the way he expresses himself. Any suggestions on what I can do to curb the hitting? or is this just something he needs to outgrow? I don't want the other moms at church to hesitate putting their kid in nursery just because my bruiser is in there.