Getting food into Sebastian is an ongoing struggle. Tonight, as a treat, I let him have a floor picnic in the sitting room to avoid the usual conflict over whether or not expecting him to sit on his bottom at a table is an unreasonable expectation. In hindsight this was a mistake.

I lovingly prepared fish finger sandwiches (ketchup on one slice of the bread and salad cream on the other, as requested) and placed them on trays on the floor. Initially all appeared well. The children were sitting down happily and no-one had said, “But I don’t LIKE IT!” Foolishly I turned my back (to go and fetch my own fish finger sandwich). Rookie error. Next thing I know there was a crash. Sebastian had stood up (no idea why), lost his balance and stood on his dinner so as not to fall.

I am not making him a second dinner (besides, there are no more fish fingers). His feet are clean, having had a bath only this lunchtime. This is still his dinner. But it seems that stood-on sandwiches are quite difficult to eat. You’d think that they’d be less likely to break, the two halves being squashed together. But no. They are in fact incredibly fragile and keep disintegrating. Even cutting the sandwiches into smaller pieces hasn’t helped. He has taken three bites and given up.

Another meal, another failure for mum.