Phases

Benji, after Ana discovered a few weeks ago that she can dress him up in her clothes and that he is totally OK with it

I love phases. Some of them are funny. Some are really annoying and I can't wait for them to end (like when Ana needed all of her eatery to match: pink plate, fork, and cup for dinner). Right now Benji has to have the same 2 songs before bed, every night. No exceptions. The "Mommy" song and the "Daddy" song. You know, "Mother, dear, I love you so, you're happy smiling face ..." and "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be ..." He requests them every night, and he won't go to sleep without them. And we've also added the Ana song, and the "me" song (Benji's). That just means I put their names into the Mommy song instead of Mommy. And sometimes if he's having an extra hard night, I substitute the song words for other silly words just to make him laugh and calm down so he will go to sleep. Like, "Mother dear I love your FOOT, your happy smiling FOOT!" Even if he's crying, it'll usually catch him off guard and make him laugh, and forget why he's crying. Oh yeah, I have all sorts of tricks up my sleeves!

Benji is still in his brown bee-bee/blue bee-bee phase. He won't go to sleep without those two blankies.

Ana's stages of make-believe play have been pretty funny. There was the stage where she was obsessed with opening and shutting doors. Every time a barbie walked through a door, she'd say out loud, "open the door, shut the door." Or when she and I were playing together, if she "came to my house" she would gesture opening the door, and say it out loud as she opened it and then shut it.

Then there was the death and destruction stage. Everyone died. And if they couldn't die, they were kidnapped. And if I refused to let someone be kidnapped, someone got lost and couldn't be found. I think we are finally over that one, though. No one has died, been kidnapped, or gotten lost in a little while.

When she started going to Sunbeams last year, we acted out lots of sharing times, and so did her barbies. And the same with preschool.  I learn a lot about what goes on at preschool and things Mrs. Long, her teacher, says when we act out preschool. It cracks me up!

Now we are on to sickness. Someone is always sick. I think that started around December when we were sick for like, two months on and off with the flu and colds. So she tells me what to say and do, and when to say it, and if I dare make up my own lines I get told that's not what I'm supposed to say. It's really quite exhausting trying to play with her. I have to listen to her instructions exactly or she calls me out and makes me do it over again the right way. I can't just zone out and say a word here and there.

So often, this is how it will go.

Ana's instructions: Ok, you call me and ask me if I can come play, but I can't because ... and then you ask if I can come play tomorrow and I say that I can't because  ...... OK?

Me: OK. "ring ring! Hi, can you come over and play?"

Ana: Um, I can't I'm sick.

Me: Oh, darn. Ok, I'll call you back in a couple days.

Ana: Ok bye!

Me: (a couple pretend days later) ring ring! Hi, can you come over and play?

Ana: Um, no, I'm still sick.

Me: (thinking, ok why did you want me to call you to come play in the first place if you can't?) Oh man! When will you be better?

Ana: Probably not til my birthday. But maybe my little sister can come play?

Me: Oh, Ok. Cool.

Ana: Oh, sorry. My mom said she can't play because she's sleeping.

Me: Sigh. (I'm thinking this isn't going anywhere so why are we playing!)


And along with the sick phase, she also pretends to have newborn babies after I have a baby. Today she had twins, which were really Donald Duck and a baby doll. They were really fussy all day so she had to keep putting them to bed on the floor next to her bed. She even left the family room during FHE because her babies were apparently crying and she had to put them to bed. And she nursed them in her shirt throughout the day. And she calls her "kids" "my honey." It's so funny. Like if I ask her to do something, sometimes she'll respond, "Um, I can't, my honey's sick."


Love these kids!