KELLY BROWN Mum's the Word...Tiny babies are clearly too small to be a threat to care and share

My little man is getting quite good at it after introducing the concept of taking turns. So he is quite happy to sit/stand/jump around until it is his turn.

But when it comes to sharing mummy, that is an altogether more tricky lesson.

So if another small child comes along and plays with me or – heaven forbid – sits on my lap, my son has to come leaping over to sit on my lap, give me a kiss or generally announce to everyone that this is ‘MY mummy’.

Needless to say sharing me can be just a step too far – especially when he is feeling tired!

With this in mind I was preparing myself for the worst when I finally got my long-awaited cuddles with two of my friends’ newborn babies.

(Thank goodness our chicken pox quarantine from last week is over).

We arrived to see baby boy number one. I had him in my arms, and sat down to show my munchkin the new baby and told him to say hello and give the baby’s hand a little stroke.

He dutifully did this, said the baby’s name and then promptly returned to the more important task of playing with his cars.

My son could not have cared less that I was cuddling a tiny baby.

Seemingly something so small and boring is not a threat and really not worthy of his attention.

So off to see baby number two – this one had an older brother to potentially create jealousy issues with too – and again it was the same story.

My little man didn’t bat an eyelid.

Instead he was far more interested in playing with his little friend’s toys and for the two of them to be chasing each other around.

Of course there was the inevitable ‘sharing incident’ with both boys wanting to play with both the pushchair and cars at the same time.

But the old taking-turns routine quickly took care of that, while I enjoyed my little cuddles with the baby.

My friend (fearing trouble when she got home) said her little boy was exactly the same. His little brother wasn’t very exciting and something so tiny was no threat to him.

I wonder how long this apathy will last?

* Keep brollies handy – time for a barbie

Like a long-standing tradition my husband and I always organise a large family barbecue every summer.

And only last week did it dawn on us that so far this year we had failed to organise one. How rubbish!

So with summer almost over we did the big ring around last week and (surprisingly) everyone is actually free on Saturday. Now if we had organised it weeks in advance that never would have happened.

So on Saturday I’ve got my fingers crossed for a bit more sunshine so we can enjoy that fantastic summer tradition. But I bet it rains!

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