One Little Word

Did everyone see Naomi as Neve's gran instead of her mum?

- EIRIN THOMPSON

NAOMI rolled up Neve's sleeves, slotted her arms into the plastic apron and fastened it at the back of her neck.

She pushed her little daughter's chair in close to the table, then took a seat beside her.

Neve turned to her mum and grinned.

"I'm ready!" she exclaimed.

Naomi smiled back.

Neve was going to have a ball at Messy Kids, hosted in the arts centre.

Taking a few years away from work to raise Neve had been wonderful.

Naomi and Pierce had had to wait a long time before being blessed with a family, and she hadn't wanted to miss a single minute of it.

"I know you think it's incredibly old-fashioned," she admitted to her best friend, Sadie, who had bounced back to the office after having each of her brood of three, "but I might not get to do this again.

"I want to squeeze every bit of enjoyment I can from the experience." "There's no right or wrong way to be a parent," Sadie had assured her. "It suits me well to get out of the house during the week.

"It means I appreciate my time with Hank and the kids in the evenings and weekends.

"I'd be permanently ratty if I were at home with the children all the time.

"But if your instincts tell you that's where you want to be, then go for it," Sadie added. "It's not about what works for anyone else. This is you, Naomi." Neve had been an easy baby who fed well and slept a lot.

Instead of feeling sleepdeprived and exhausted, Naomi had had bundles of energy to batch cook and freeze all kinds of interesting weaning foods.

She had rolled on the floor with her baby for "tummy time", and pushed her about in her pram for hours in the fresh air.

"We're so lucky," she frequently told Pierce.

"I know," he agreed.