Secrets and lies

I had lunch today with some of my mummy friends and their babes. We've not managed to meet up for a month or so, all of us having been hit by summer travel. It is lovely to see how the little ones have changed, and particularly their very distinct characters. Eve is by far the most active, attention seeking, and talkative of the bunch. And the most stroppy when she doesn't get what she wants.

As a group we have not succumbed to the competitive mother syndrome lots of people do. We all have very different backgrounds and circumstances, and the two things that tie us are that we all have babies about the same age and that we all went back to work. In fact, quite the opposite, we have been hugely supportive of each other and very accepting of different ways of doing things.

Having not seen each other for ages, today we caught up and to start with all was wonderful and positive. But after a glass of wine a few little secrets came out. J still has to rock her babe to sleep each night and now he is 9kg she wishes she could stop. D, who has the most laid back and happy little boy I know, can't get him interested in food most mealtimes so caves in and gives him puddings, which he loves. At each secret revealed we all nodded sagely, offered advice (which has in almost all instances already been tried anyway) and then smiled and took another glug of the wine.

And my secret? Eve doesn't sleep. She is a dreadful sleeper and is still fed at least once over night (we have tried so many times to drop it but she is a glutton), and often ends up cuddled up next to me in our bed.