Buttons!

My daughter has developed a major phobia about buttons. You know, those things that pretty much all mens' shirts have, and most of my smart, for-work clothes. Well, she started off last Tuesday having a complete hysterical fit whenever she saw a button, and refusing to be in the same room as her Daddy until he changed into a T-shirt, and she has gradually been improving all week. On Wednesday, when I fetched my car after a service, my Mom had to take Zeb out into the car park - because she refused to stop screaming when she noticed that one of the guys at the service reception desk was wearing a button-up shirt.

This follows hard on the heels of the massive ant phobia (about 2 weeks ago) and, before that, the snake phobia (causing her to be unable to enter the children's diningroom at the hotel, or even walk past the door - because there was a small picture of a cartoon snake on an ABC poster). This seems to be the pattern at the moment..
1) Develop huge, world ending / hysteria inducing phobia.
2) Gradually work through phobia, until it settles, in 1 to 2 weeks.
3) Develop new huge, apocolyptic, hysteria-inducing phobia.

I'm now running out of reasonably smart clothes to wear that have no buttons. This morning, my daughter suggested I should wear my (buttonless) dressing gown all day. Hmmmmm...