I know this might seem to be a radical idea, but have you thought to ask him what is going on? Don’t be accusatory about it or anything, but just tell him you have noticed some wonderful changes over the past few days and are wondering what might have caused them. See what he says. It might be as insignificant as he made a new years resolution or as big as he stole the neighbors car and wrecked it outside of town, but he might tell you what is going on when confronted with the obviousness of the situation at hand.
Is this his teacher?
I was thinking more along these lines.
I take it that you haven’t asked him what’s going on. That would show that you recognize the change and that you like it. He may change just because of it.
S’cuse my ignorance and all, but what are pods?
Nothing. Nothing at all. Please return to your homes.
Ah, thankyews.
I thought ‘pods’ might have been a euphemism for tapeworm that causes behavioural problems in kids sometimes.
I R Enlightened. Mucho gratsias. 
snerk That’s as good a theory as any. 
Perhaps you beat me to the reference, but you didn’t beat me to the link!
Yes, I’d be looking for a cardboard box with a large arrow on it that says “Good/Evil”. 
He’s sleeping with Olivia Newton-John.
Was the moon full on the 8th? That’s the evening my 10 year old son asked me at 8:30 pm if it was alright if he went to bed early.
Ha! That was also the night my daughter told me that she didn’t want a cookie after dinner because eating sugar at night disrupts her ability to fall asleep.
I’m glad it’s not just my household.
so, he’s pretty much back to normal, in fact he even said he hated me this morning when I said he had to turn off the video game so we could get to the bus stop on the time. (He was bitterly disappointed, thinking, inexplicably, that he had gotten up at six am instead of seven thirty)
sigh.
It could’ve been a Brainslug…
you didn’t see any squidgy greenish blob attached to his skull did you?
did-he-speak-in-a-flat-monotone-voice-and-refer-to-himself-in-the-third-person?
perhaps you switched to a Garlic-based shampoo without knowing it and it just shriveled up…
Perfect.
He must have remembered that Christmas is over for another year, and that Santa’s taking a nap.
Whew! You dodged that bullet!