Animation - Sequence by Paragraph Not Available/Working

I am experiencing a similar frustration. Some text boxes will allow me to fade in text by paragraph and some will not. The directional options are available but the option to fade in as one options or by paragraph are not available.

In some cases, I have had success cuttintg and pastpasting text boxes slidese where the option is working correctly. In other cases the option disappears immediately or soon after I cut and paste the text box into the particular slide. I am baffled (and frustrated).

Interestingly, on a hunch, I just tried selected "Format Shape > Text Box , and set autofit to "Expand Height" for one of the problematic text boxes. Upon closing, the option to animate text by paragraph was suddenly available.

I'd love to know what is going on here. Any thoughts?