I remember once vowing not to let Ben get too attached to anything when he went to sleep so that we would be able to put him down anywhere at anytime and he would nod off.

I saw mums and dads carting around favourite teddies, dummies, cloths and pillows just so that their little darlings would drift into the land of nod without a fuss. Not me, I thought. Call me heartless but I was determined to draw the line at a favourite teddy at most.

So then, if I was to tell you that last night Ben slept with a green tractor in one hand, Thomas the Tank Engine’s friend Rosie in the other, and sucking on his favourite sleeping blanket, it is clear my position has changed somewhat.

The tractor and train is a relatively new addition to the once clutter-free cot. The blanket, however, has been with him for most of his fledgling life.

I really thought he would have grown out of it by now, but he is insistent he has to cuddle up to it before his little peepers will close shut.

I have visions of him taking the, by then, little rag to (secondary) school.

Being bullied mercilessly about why he has a foul-smelling blanket in his lunch box.

They tell me not to worry and that he will grow out of it, but I’m not so sure – he seems pretty attached to the grey, once white, square of cloth.

The addition of the tractor I am in two minds about.

I was concerned that it would just delay him going to sleep because he was chug, chug chugging around his cot picking up balls of fluff that he was pretending were farm animals. But it would appear that he just wanted to cling on to it before parking it on his pillow and drifting off.

So I’m going to see how that one plays out. Either way the diva is building up his collection of “must haves” before travelling elsewhere.

Soon I will have a suitcase just dedicated to Ben’s likely demands, as the list of tricks to keep him happy grows ever longer.