53

"Tadda? Hawk had a weird nappy!" Ton said as he entered the kitchen and calmly plopped the nappy on the table in the middle of breakfast. Everyone stopped with horror as Ianto peered into it and sighed.

"Ton … did you let him suck on your icypop?"Ianto asked as he considered "remember? Last night you had one and he was fussy?"

"He liked it" Ton frowned like he was being accused of something.

"No … that's OK love. He is OK experiencing things sometimes but we have to be careful, icypops are mostly just water and flavouring. But also food colouring which we are carful about right?" Ianto asked, knowing Ton knew full well why Ianto checked the packets for ingredients as he had explained that he believed different additives can affect how he feels. How some made him silly.

"Yes, this is one I have lots! Even Monkey doesn't go mental on one!" Ton frowned again, still confused.

"Darling, the food colouring. Sometimes it changes while it goes through your body. Remember how I said our body looks at what we eat and filters out what bits we need for fuel? If it takes something that has the food colouring in it then it makes sense that the colour might change right? Remember how we mix colours to get different ones?"

Ton's face changed "So … this is like how I pee funny sometimes?"

"Yes. You are bigger so you pee more and it is less obvious. Hawk is tiny so he pees tiny but the colouring is more obvious. Why we must be super careful what he eats while he is starting to be curious" Ianto pointed at the nappy "This just changed the colour of his pee. Imagine if it hurt his tummy? He is too little for solids yet, just some of the special juice from the baby jug or water sometimes."

Ton was horrified and he picked up the nappy to stare into it "Can this hurt him?"

"No, but this is your first baby care so maybe you should read some of the books about babies and stuff before trying again, hmmmm? Maybe if you watch with little Jax? Hawk is about the same size really, even if he is a little older right? Maybe it can be something for Sam to do with you, you know she loves doing things with you. We can all keep a diary and write down how Jax and Hawk are?"

As Ton wandered off Babs turned to Ianto "You don't think it is giving him too much responsibility?"

"Who do you think helped with Imp? You were too busy with Walter already" Ianto answered "Ton is not stupid. He only has DS, he is quite capable of doing the same things as you. He wants to be part of Hawk's life, he loves him. You think I am not right there in the shadows? Hawk is not a project for him, he loves him. Other than Badger and Munch, this is the first significant love of his life."

Babs nodded as she saw that she had been her usual head in the clouds self. Of course Taddy was supervising with extreme intent. He knew about the icy pop after all and was ready for the nappy.