PHASES. They are an understatement.
People like to tell you that your child is “going through a phase,” but the more I dwell on it, the more I think that the word PHASE is such an understatement.
They are not “just phases-“ they are strange, weird, unthinkable hours (in the nicest way possible, of course.) Recently we’ve been experiencing some ‘so called phases...’
Our Tot has been really into Hey Duggee for about 6 months (she still loves it, but Swashbuckle is taking over...) Tot is two and managed to convince us into watching every episode of Hey Duggee about 60 million times. I do not joke.
However, as I say, she’s starting to switch over to ‘Swashbuckle’ being the fave (honestly, what did toddlers do before TV on Demand?!?) If you don’t know, it’s a pirate game show where kids essentially compete for ‘gems’ by roaming around a glorified soft play...
Anyway, our Tot has taken liking to one particular episode where two of the contestants are called Darcie-May and Holly. On the game show, these little contestants come down a slide whilst the voice over introduces them by name.
Religiously, our Tot is now going through a ‘PHASE,’ whereby each time she comes down our stairs at home, she does her very own version of a voice over and announces: “It’s Darcie-Mayyyyy!”
Dear God, don’t let the girl near anything heavily voice-overed for future reference. Big Brother and Come Dine with Me = No Gos.
We also tried to teach the girls a classic game recently: Duck, Duck, Goose. My husband, myself, Tot and Little Babe all sat in a circle (well, a kind of circle.) Little Babe actually stayed put which is usually unheard of because the girl’s more fidgety than a really cute fly at 11 months.
My husband and I thought we’d start by demonstrating the game rules, but it turns out there isn’t much room to chase one another when you are two grown adults circling a toddler and a baby. We mainly tried not to trip over our own offspring. We had to pretend we couldn’t always catch each other, but truth be told, we were actually so close we were practically a poultry pile-up!
And once Tot joined in, we’d have been better off calling our version ‘Run, Forrest, Run,’ as Tot ran the loop of the ‘circle’ any time one of us did! And sometimes she wouldn’t stop running, like a goose on a never-ending roundabout.
Would a goose even chase a duck, anyway?
All in all, I’d say we would leave that game until they’re older... except Tot keeps asking to play “Duck Duck Goose.” And Little Babe finds it totally hilarious! She sits there rolling her head back laughing out loud as we all end up just dizzying around her?!
However, because this has become a so-called phase-game, I seem to spend many hours of the day sitting cross-legged on the floor, with a two year doing hysterical laps around me, slapping me on the head. Occasionally, she trips over her own foot, shouts “DUCK” and then needs a hug! Meanwhile, Little Babe usually flashes her gums again and regularly applauds. Stranger things.
So all in all, I remain unconvinced by the word ‘phase.’ When people warned me that ‘children go through phases,’ I am not sure that pirate shows, voice overs and head slaps were quite what they had in mind!!?
