Gardner has been a little fussy guy today. With pregnancy hormones making me take everything personally, I am having a rough day myself. He is purposefully defiant in his actions, and he is refusing to eat what I set before him on a plate at mealtime.

When I was playing with him earlier, making him cackle and laugh in that cute little way, I noticed the bluish tinge on his lower jaw making me think this could all be due to impending teeth coming through....that would certainly explain both the irritability and the refusal to eat anything except yogurt or applesauce. Time will tell.

In just a few more months, he will actually be able to tell me what's wrong....what's hurting him, why he's angry, what he's frustrated about. Of course, I will still play parent and not the peacemaker in order to suppress the "terrible two's" that really don't have to happen unless I allow them to move in and take residence.

Sometimes parenting is so tough. It's a learn-as-you-go thing....the thing with which I have the hardest time. No books to read, no study guides, no practice drills. This is it.

I want him to grow up to be the best man that he can be, the man that God intended him to be. That's what this is all about.