Please don't feed the animals Part II

Well I have finally returned to work after a year of maternity leave and part of me is glad to be back ... adult conversations, time to myself, lunch breaks!! I am lucky that mum and dad are happy to look after the little one and my boss (female) understands and supports the work / life balance.

Cream very kindly decided to take time off work for my first week back so I wouldn't have the additional stress of rushing around in the morning trying to dress, feed and drop him off to the grandparents. Had a great first day, couldn't get on the computer (apparently they had deleted me!) so spent my time catching up with work gossip. Even better, on my return home, I was greeted at the door with a huge kiss and a cuddle and after I managed to wrestle myself away from Cream (who now appreciates just how much work is involved in "sitting at home with the kid") I got a big smile, kiss and cuddle from Zoo too.

Since then, the grandparents have settled into their routine of babysitting. They vehemently deny it, but there are numerous signs of overfeeding ... not eating his supper, chubbier cheeks, more frequent poo nappies! When this was casually mentioned to them, Dad promptly blamed Vertigo for feeding him extra bananas. (Suffice to say Vertigo denies all knowledge.) I suppose I should be concerned about food flinging itself into Zoo's mouth ... however it does go to prove my assertion that when I open Dad's fridge, the chocolate bars have a tendency to unwrap themselves and force themselves down my throat!

Please don't feed the animals

Not sure what's up with mum these days ... to put things politely ... she's a large woman and normally nibbles when we go round to eat. I've never worried too much about it as I have witnessed her "checking" her cooking for seasoning and it normally involves eating a small portion of each dish of which there are many. Add this to her regular cups of tea and the lack of any weight loss and you can tell she's fine.

However it's Ramadan and we are all fasting from about 5.30am until 6.30pm and my mother has it would seem stopped eating altogether! She came round to mine twice to open her fast and ate all the starters and then moved her main course around on the plate but never ate it. I just assumed she didn't like my cooking. But having gone round to the parents for iftari, I noticed her doing the same to her own cooking.

As we all tucked into our large portions of food, I questioned her on how little she was eating and she commented "I'm only human!". We all looked at each other and then in a chorus cried "And what are we then ... animals?"