Bizarre toddler behavior

Ben continues to melt into tears when you tell him "no" firmly, so his behavior was very odd at dinner last night. He started waving his fork around, acted like he was going to throw it on the floor, and gave me a "test mom's limits" look, kind of. I said "Please don't throw your fork, BenHoney," and two seconds later, he threw it on the floor. I said, not very harshly at all, "Ben, I asked you not to throw your fork!" and immediately his face fell and he wailed. Tim and I struggled not to laugh and tried not to pay attention to him. The really funny thing is that the whole identical scenario repeated five minutes later! When he starts crying (after you say no), it seems like he can't help it and it seems like genuine hurt, so I'm reluctant to think he is already doing the "I know that if I make a pitiful face mom and dad will be less mad at me" act yet. I know toddlers will test all their limits many, many times, but I thought they usually did it with a devilish look on their faces. This limit-testing ended in apparent misery for Ben himself, so I'm surprised that he repeated it.
Sweet, sensitive Benny!