BB has finally started asking the why word. To be honest I was getting a bit concerned that this milestone had not yet been reached when all her little friends started asking why months ago. I needn’t have worried.

‘Why are you putting your coat on?’, ‘Why do I have to eat my lunch?’ and ‘Why are you going to work?’ are all questions she’s asked today alone, and more trickily at bath time earlier this week, ‘Why does Daisy have a long tail?’

This is a very good question: why do cats have tails, and long ones at that? (see Eddie & Daisy, pictured). Given I was kneeling on the bathroom floor elbow deep in bubble bath at the time, stalling under the guise of ‘checking my phone’ while nipping onto google to find out was out of the question, so I fudged it by saying that’s ‘how cats are built’ and ‘what makes them different from humans’.

In fact, according to the encyclopaedia of everything aka the internet, cats have tails because they help with balance, enabling them to walk on narrow ledges and land on all four paws; for communication, signalling their mood and motivation, and they contain scent glands helping them mark their territory.

Armed with this new-found knowledge and feeling rather pleased with myself I went to find BB and tell her, but she just looked at me blankly and said ‘what are you talking about mummy?’

That’s also a very good question…