Well, there's no doubt that the behavior cannot by any stretch be considered normal. Now, the issue focuses on whether this was an anomaly, or whether it is one episode among many. Sometimes anomalous behaviors occur and it is difficult, if not impossible, to discern why the incident occurred. Did all this literally occur in the span of a single day? Were these behaviors well outside the norm for him? Or were they escalations of a pattern you had been witnessing on a lesser scale?

Well Monday night was the incident where he got up and messed up the house, and it was Tuesday at daycare that he was hitting the kids.  He had been getting up in the middle of the night previously, but the one time he actually did anything, he just got the milk out of the refrigerator and some boxes of jello and mixed them in a whole bunch of bowls and put them in the refrigerator and then ran in the room and told me "mommy i did it I did it."  There was one day last week where his teacher told me that he was squeezing kids fingers at daycare and then laughing and he would say, "you can't come to my house" and then he would laugh.  But most days she says that he was an angel.  Here is some other information that may help:  I am a single mom and his dad picks him up every other weekend.  Also, I am in law school so the majority of the time I am in front of the computer or my head is in a book and he is watching TV.

You'll have to decide about your priorities, but your last comment is worrisome. You don't want to reach a point when you look back and wish you had spent more time engaged with your son. You likely can arrange things so that when he's awake you are available to him. Three-year-olds need their parents, particularly when there aren't siblings. Hopefully at school they employ time out when your son acts in an aggressive fashion. And when you need to discipline him at home, time out is really the best intervention throughout childhood. Spanking tends not to be very effective in the long run, and with kids who are angry it tends to exacerbate the problem. Your son's behavior during the night sounds like typical three-year-old behavior - while the cat's away..., so to speak. The problem is that he's waking up at night and moving around. Be sure to keep him on a strict schedule of bedtime and waking up time, and if he still naps during the day it may be time to stop that. Children vary a lot in this regard. But, generally speaking, at his age he should be sleeping straight through for approx. 11 hours each night. Consider using a bedroom monitor to alert you to his getting up, and be sure to let him know that such behavior is not allowed. He's to remain in his bed. It's OK if he comes to you for reassurance, but be sure to bring him back to his bed.

Thank you so much for your response.  I really appreciate it.

Yes at daycare he gets time outs for his behavior.  I guess my major question is should I be worried?  Or should I just post back and ask more questions if his behavior continues?

Perhaps the watchword now is to be vigilant, though not particularly worried. Definitely get back to us if your son doesn't revert to his usual more stable form.