Scared stiff.

Crowbar's going through a new phase. He's scared of everything.

For starters, he's now afraid of the dark. At night, he insists I leave on a lamp with a 60-watt bulb, despite the fact that a nightlight was just fine for the first three-and-a-half years. And now, as you can imagine with it so bright in there, he isn't going to bed easily.

While his new found fear of the dark seems legit, he clearly feigns fright when I raise my voice at him. His eyes get huge, he fakes biting his nails in fear and last night, I even caught him forcing his lower lip to quiver. Sometimes he even musters a tear or two.

The little faker.

I'm not really sure where this all started. Maybe he sees how dramatic his sisters are and feels he needs his own routine. Maybe one of his cohorts at daycare fakes fright to get his way and Crowbar's trying it out on me.

Either way, it's getting old. Whether it's an act or the real deal, when he freezes up, he reminds me of a fainting goat. Fine one minute, then scared stiff the next.

Go figure.