Gandhi and my 3 year old

Before the dawn of time...(okay not that long ago, but I've always wanted to start a story like that. Makes it sound more epic.) Mahatma Gandhi lived, and was a brilliant, peaceful man. 58 years after his passing, my son "Bug" was born and considered by many to also be a peaceful little man. Then he turned 3. All of a sudden he was less "passive resistent" and more "smack the crap out of anyone who will steal my yoyo." I do step in when necessary, but I do believe in letting kids attempt to work out their own differences first, so as long as nobody is bleeding for crying, the confrontation is being handled "peacefully" in my book. Especially if I feel that the victim of his wrath deserved their fate. Even though Bug is not such a pacifist anymore, he is still like Gandhi in another BIG way. The hunger strikes. This drives me absolutely mad (as in hatter, not screaming, yelling, and stomping feet)! Suddenly, he turns from my little boy that will eat just about anything, in larger than life portions, to "Randy" from A Christmas Story. You know..."Meatloaf, meatloaf, double beatloaf...I HATE MEATLOAF." I can admit that I understand why he would revolt against vegetables and certain meats, but I cannot by any stretch of the imagination, dream of why the kid would turn down a Happy Meal! When I was a kid, if our family ordered out pizza, it was such a big treat, that there were never any leftovers. If we went to McDonald's, not everyone got a Happy Meal, but instead one person got a Happy Meal, and everyone else got plain old cheeseburgers. It was a BIG deal. Bug does not see it that way, and looks at us like we are trying to feed him food laced with arsenic, or worse...cooties. What's really impressive, is that his hunger strike has gone on WAY longer than 3 weeks. Yes, he does eat, but RARELY dinner. He'll sit down, exclaim that whatever is laid out before him is his "bavorite deiner ebber" (favorite dinner ever) and then refuse to eat. The pediatrician has assured me that it is normal, which is obvious to me since he is not the first, nor will he be my last to walk in these footsteps, but as a wise man (Gandhi) once said: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win".

That's right, Gandhi, I will prevail!