As if Jack wasn’t already obsessed enough with the arrival of his little sister in November, he has extended his attention to my wife’s inflatable pregnancy ball.

No doubt most of you already know what a pregnancy ball is, and many of you will understand how it can become a fairly indispensible relief for back pain, hip pain and leg pains throughout the whole nine-month slog.

In my wife’s case it’s even more indispensible. She suffers from a pelvic condition known as Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction, or SPD.

I’ve already lined up a more detailed post about the condition for later this month. For the moment, I need only tell you that it’s exceptionally painful.

Unfortunately for her, she’s not able to use the ball as often as she’d like. This is because Jack is usually making use of it himself.

Despite the difficulty this causes though, we both have to admire Jack’s resourcefulness. He’s discovered there’s so much to do with it.

Aside from the expected – rolling on it; bouncing off it; kicking it – Jack has also discovered some quite creative uses for it.

When he’s playing with his pirate ship, the ball is known as the Nackerwack, a scurvy sea monster that terrorises pirates (we owe this creation, in part, to C Beebies show The Octonauts).

When he’s tired, he wraps the ball in a blanket and uses it as a ‘roley-poley pillow’.

When he’s in the mood to show off, the ball is referred to as ‘the world’ which Jack rescues from ‘the sea’ – otherwise known as the carpet – by carrying it with great effort around the room.

In this latter incarnation, the ball is at its most destructive. Our shattered coffee mugs a grim reminder of this fact.

So, keen to see the silver lining in all this, we have decided that we’ll be wrapping up the ball for Jack this Christmas and offering it to him as a hand-me-down.

No doubt he’ll be chuffed.