In and Out of phase

One thing you become very familiar with once you have children is the infuriating concept of childhood phases. Everyone goes through them as kids and, if anything like me, as adults too. Phases vary from anything like a strange obsession with sweat pants, to lifestyle and career choices. They can go on for months or even years and the harder people try to bring someone out of a phase the longer it seems to persist. Phases are fun and a big part if how humans grow and learn. Some phases should be encouraged and others just have to be ridden out.

Jack is already well into the phase game, he goes through multiple phases at a time and he picks weird ones. When he was two he went through a phase of not wanting to sleep in his bed but it wasn't that he wanted to sleep in our bed with us, he wanted to sleep on the floor next to his bed. The problem was that he didn't sleep very well as a result and would wake up tired and grumpy. This went on for weeks and it was a turned bedtime into a nightly battle. We were relieved when it was over.

He went through one phase where he wanted to change his name, to Marshmallow. For a few weeks he would ask daily if I'd received the paper work needed to officially change his name. It sounds silly, but he was very serious about it.

Phases also spread to his diet, he's in the middle of a chicken phase, which is great because it means he'll actually eat chicken in a non-nugget form. The headache for this phase will come after it's over and he refuses to eat all non-nugget poultry again.

At the minute Jack is also going through a super powers phase. All he talks about are his various super powers and how he can demonstrate them. He's also just going into a naked phase, after school he spending more and more time with no clothes on. Neither of these bother me too much, except when he get gets frustrated with his super powers not really working, or when he wants to wrestle.

He's also in a guessing phase, he asks you to guess things without giving away any information, such as, guess animal I'm going to be today, baring in mind that this animal could be, and often is, one he's just made up that minute. That one is obnoxious because even if I manage to guess the animal then he changes his mind. Currently everything he says will start with one of three phrases, "Guess what.", "Wouldn't it be funny if...", or "Can I just tell you something...".   I really hope that this is just a phase.