Mama

Until recently I did my share of going into Oliver's room first in the morning to get him up and then carry him downstairs. (Carrying him downstairs to spare Hayley's back was one reason, the other being that I couldn't wait to go and see him.) But my new regime of early starts at work mean that it is now always Hayley who goes in to see him during the week.

The first few days she went in he would still say "Dada" as soon as he saw her. If I then went in he would expect me to pick him up. But for the last couple of days when Hayley has entered his room he has said "Mama".

Now this may sound trivial, but he seems to have been saying "Dada" all the time and forever, whereas poor Hayley hardly ever got a "Mama". (It's not uncommon for "Dada" to be the first word in many children. It's just easier to say!) But recently he has taken to saying "Mama" to her much more. Bless her, she always melts. And he can wrap her round his little finger by saying it. And he knows it too. He just looks up into her eyes and says "Mama". And Mama is as happy and compliant as can be.

The other morning I came down to find Hayley at the table with no breakfast but Oliver with a bowl of cereal in a proper china bowl which he was tucking into. He had refused to eat from his plastic blue bowl when he saw Hayley's china bowl and so she had relinquished her breakfast to him!

Another area where Mummy makes a fuss of her little boy is at bedtime when he has his milk. Very recently he has decided that perhaps he IS prepared to hold his bottle himself after all. I came in the other night to find Oliver holding his bottle and Hayley saying to him "Don't you want Mummy to hold that for you?".

The truth is that those bedtimes giving him his milk are the closest we come to him still being a baby. The rest of the time he is much more a little boy now, charging around, wreaking havoc and generally enjoying himself as a little boy should. So Hayley is cherishing them as long as possible. I know we need to let him grow up, but I can't say I blame her.