Do candles go bad?

I lit that candle yesterday an hour before people were set to arrive.

Moments before the doorbell rang I realize my house was suspiciously absent of scent.

It was lit. It was melting. But there was very little smell. This is odd because you can smell this particular candle even when it's NOT lit, just by standing a few feet away.

It's possible that the air conditioning, running at full power due to three digit temps, was blasting away any scent that might have been brave enough to waft into the room. Regardless, I didn't smell anything good or bad, so it wasn't really a big deal.

What was a big deal, was the fact that my son chose yesterday to start shoving. Two hands on the chest, shoving. Where do they learn this? When I removed him from the group and gave him my best not under any circumstances do we behave like that hiss, he LAUGHED at me. This isn't particularly unusual behavior as most consequences are lost on him, unless the consequence is telling him that there will be no more Clifford for the day, and then watch o.u.t.

Then, that evening, when we sat down to dinner with a plate of spaghetti in front of him, he sobbed. No spag*cough*gasp*hiccup*sob*hetti! When he did manage to put a bite in his mouth, he gagged, then spit it out. Then sobbed some more, as if his plate were filled with barbed wire covered in tomato sauce.

The husband and I looked at each other, both utterly perplexed.

It would appear that two has arrived folks. With a vengeance.

Ultimately we let him down from the table, because this was utter torture for all of us.

Then, I was faced with a dilemma. Am I the mom who sends her kid to bed hungry because he chose not to eat what was made for him? I certainly don't want to be the mom who caters to every whim. To a kid who liked spaghetti yesterday, but today can't stand it. Who makes a meal and then tosses it because it didn't strike his fancy tonight.

Because I know you're on the edge of your seat, it turns out I couldn't do it. A little while later I prepared food that looked like a snack to his eyes, but in fact had some nutritional value (cheese, turkey, fruit) and presented it in a non-dinner fashion. He ate.*

So, I'm not sure where the line is. The line between over indulging and just taking care of his basic needs.

Sorry kid, your mom is clueless.

*I know he's in no danger of starving if he misses a meal but he was SO worked up and we've never really seem him like that. I realize that we probably just got played by a two year old. There have been days where he takes his entire lunch and dumps it on the floor and I shrug and think, "There's always dinner."