Q: We have a 2-year-old toddler who is terribly fearful socially. He's scared of other children and not interested in playing with them. At a recent birthday party he spent most of the time under a chair watching the other kids play. I took him to a Kindermusic class recently and, when he saw other kids were there, he cried and wanted to leave. He likes to stay with what he knows and won't try new things. He's super careful of everything. My husband always warns our boy to "watch out" or "be careful." Are we overdoing this? And why does he dislike other kids?

Three of our beautiful egg-laying chickens were stolen from our coop by some nefarious wildlife type critter within 24 hours. So while my husband and I went to work shoring up the defenses of our chicken coop, our five sons launched a large-scale paramilitary operation on our backwoods 20 acres. Upon discovering that the third hen had been stolen, the boys descended into a huddle. With occasional furtive glances toward the coop, they spent a solid five minutes whispering, planning and gesticulating wildly.

This is a daily diary of a recent Saturday here at the Eicher home

It began on a Saturday morning in the second spring after The Grub Invasions. I was spading a section of dead lawn. The yard was a wasteland. That morning the flowers in a kitchen vase had died of thirst. Now I had unearthed a headless plastic toy soldier. Were these omens? Why did I think I would do better with a flower garden than grass?

There was a notable development last week in early jockeying for the 2010 campaign to replace term-limited Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Popular Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, who got 56 percent in winning each of her two four-year terms, bowed out of her gubernatorial exploratory effort and made a surprise endorsement of Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard for the Republican nomination.

If Michigan is going to be economically competitive in the future, it has to have a better-educated work force. That's one of the few things that virtually every expert agrees on. Everyone, that is, except for the state Senate, which just voted to totally eliminate the best-known scholarship program, and make major cuts in other forms of needs-based financial aid.

There are matters of governance that have nothing to do with faith. Likewise, matters of faith aren't the domain of government. Injecting religion into government typically diminishes both. Watching the politicians proves that time and again.

If you are driving a defective Chrysler, the Bankruptcy Court has two words for you: Tough Luck. It looks like the Court is going to tell General Motors drivers the same thing.

For the last year, Scott Hebert has been able to dub himself a national champion. Now, he will know what it's like to defend that title. All eyes will be on Hebert, the head pro at Grand Traverse Resort & Spa, when he competes at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M., beginning today in the PGA Professional National Championship.