T.E.
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Much of his behavior is likely due to lack of sleep. My daughter went though a similar situation at 2.5. This might help with the sleeping problems. At 2.5 we decided that it was time to put our daughter into a big girl bed. We were expecting our second child and needed her crib. However, we made it a big deal. We redecorated her room completely. New furniture, new paint, brought some of her toys from the playroom and set them up in her room, hung her dress up clothes up in a place where she could reach it, etc. We made sure that she knew that it was because she was a big girl now and thus, she had to act like one. She loves her room! She loves her bed and only wants to sleep in it.
You may also need to set up a new bedtime routine: bath, dress, potty, read book, give goodnight kisses, and talk about dreaming, then walk out of room letting him know you will check on him in 10 minutes.
We have and are still going through the tantrum stage with our daughter. She is 3 now as of last month. We use timeouts a lot. One of the things i try to do with her in timeout is sit down with her and discuss why she is acting the way she is and explain that it is inappropriate or a bad choice to make to do what she is doing. If you do this in his terms so he can understand it, then it seems to work.
Just a couple ideas. Good luck! Know that you are not the only one out there.