Sketch of a red and green narrowboat with a perkily angled chimney on the canal under yellow willow branches

Sketch of toddler re-enacting a scene from Janet and Allan Ahlberg's "Worm book" where a worm is lured into a trap by a mirror. The toddler recreates this by climbing up a chair on to his bedside table, fiddling with the mirror and jumping into a "hole" on his bed

Sketch of the handgel incident - toddler likes to play with an (unused) urine sample bottle at bedtime - we can't find it, so I hurriedly offer him a nearly-empty handgel bottle. But then he pours it near his eye and a bit in his mouth. I wash out his eye and give him water and milk and worry all night - but he is totally fine!

Sketch of my toddler and friends' kids hanging out in a playground

February sketchbook: narrowboat, mirror trap, handgel incident, playground with friends

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Sketches of our second theatre trip - a big success (Hey Little Bird at the Pegasus theatre) - toddler pays attention and there are hats and disco lights, an owl, balloons and a carnival!

Sketches of a day with a toddler: he actually borrows books in the library but only because he's intrigued by the machine, he plays a lot of "posting screw through hole in a cupboard", we look at the boiler, we examine my neighbour's CD player, we do a disco in the dark, I find him in the cot with his pyjamas wrapped round he so both he sleeces are on one arm (then he does a massive poo)

Sketches of baby terrapins

Sketches of "chaos child" - toddler exploring my room - taking things off my shelves, climbing things, rolling around with bubble wrap

February sketchbook: theatre trip, a typical day of examining pipework, baby terrapins, chaos child

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Sketches of a freezing cold day with toddler and my mum - visit the market, watch people make flatbread in café, bake (toddler only interested in chocolate drops), find missing toys and bits of old dust, cuddle up and watch Duggee, fill freezer with soup and curry

Sketches of things that are used as (pretend) wires in this house: keys, string, bungee cord, tape measure, sewing thread, duplo chargin cable

Sketch of a selection of toy tools

Sketch of me walking along Iffley Road in the dark (half moon), when I look up startled at a tree full of squawking green parakeets!

Winter sketchbook: a mummy and granny day, things that are used as wires, tools, a tree full of parakeets!

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Sketch of St Barnabas church tower, rooftops and wintery tree and sky

Sketch of toddler's Ashmolean highlights: security robe, radiator, status base, automatic doors, lights on floor, lockers, bridges, stairs

Sketches of fish from our local fish shop/aquarium - various weird and wonderful fish and a terrapin, sketched while toddler was busy fetching imaginary disco lights for the fish

Sketch of our excellent marble run, which I was playing with while toddler was asleep

January sketchbook: St Barnabas Jericho, highlights of the Ashmolean Museum, the fish shop, marble run!

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Sketches of when I had a sore finger on new year's day and all the doctors and pharmacies were closed and it was raining. But thankfully out local aquarium (the goldfish bowl) was open and toddler was coping well with partially giving up breastfeeding (thanks to chocolate bribes) and we went to my neighbour's party and were the two youngest people there

Sketch of me getting my sore finger dealt with - go to phramacy, doctor (who prescribes antibiotics) and back to pharmacy, all with toddler in tow - amusing moment when I provide my own medical supplies to doctor for him to rewrap my finger. And after all that we're only ten minutes late for our trip to play on the seesaw in the park

Sketch of me heading out on a cold night (to pick up toddler) with a crescent moon and single star (Venus presumably) in the dark blue sky

Sketch of a day with the toddler - we go to story museum where all he wants to do is cuddle owls in the dark, we watch David Attenborough (well, I do), we take down Christmas decorations (toddler says "Chripmen it finished now"), we build a duplo chocolate machine (toddler's idea), I give toddler a haircut, and he genuinely helps me with the washing up!

January sketchbook: the saga of my sore finger, East Oxford by moonlight, the last day of "Chripmen"

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Sketch of a Christmas tree

Sketch of the London eye against a pink sky and some buses near Waterloo Bridge - caption "sneaky trip to the theatre!"

Sketch of the toddler dragging me through a network of little fountains at King's Cross

Sketch of me sitting on the bed sketching in a purple sweater with excitingly messy hair. Caption: 12 years daily sketching (except 28th November 2019)

More sketchbook diaries from Christmas: tree, sneaky trip to the theatre (minus toddler), playing in fountains at King's cross, and self portrait

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Sketch of the toddler's first play - the Elves and the Shoemaker. Toddler liked the lighting rig and the bit where they blew bubbles - I liked the bit where the dog made a spreadsheet

Sketch of sick toddler cuddled up on the sofa in a big red blanket watching telly

Sketches of travelling for Christmas while sick - I was feverish all night (chattering with cold and then burning up); I cuddle sick boy; mum takes toddler out while I do hurried packing (I'm crawling towards my suitcase saying GNNN); we just about survive bus, train, tube, bus and I collapse on my parents' sofa

Sketches of my baby nephew - most of them looking nothing like him!

Sketchbook diaries from December: a play, a sick toddler, a sick me, and my baby nephew

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Sketches from a live nativity event with my toddler: he's more interested than tinsel than live animals; he has a go at crafts and decorating biscuits; I enjoy a tiny child's attempt to pronounce "Quirinius" and a small king called Chloe; I feel unsure about this early introduction to Christianity, but I also tear up during Away in a Manger; all the Christmas fun pales into insignificance for toddler compared to a stick he found outside

Sketch of double decker blue white and gold carousel with horses, carriages and reindeer. A record of the best outing ever - when the toddler was off sick from nursery but feeling better, so I took him to ride the carousel at the Christmas market.

Sketchbook of my exhausting (and, as it turned out, only) day of Christmas shopping - I forced toddler to nursery, cycled to town, realised I'd left my phone at home, couldn't cope and turned round, went trouser and underwear shopping, ate a pie and a Ben's cookie, did actually quite a lot of Christmas shopping, tried to sketch and realised I'd left my pencil case at home, collapsed at home on the sofa before rushing off to collect toddler!

Sketch of my former choir in Christmassy attire singing "What ay shall I give him? Give my heart"

Happy Christmas from the December diaries! Live nativity, merry-go-round, Christmas shopping (in fact my only Christmas shopping because we got ill), choir concert

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Sketch of all the meals I cooked one lunchtime (in pots and neatly packed up in freezer boxes): leek and potato soup, tomato sauce, cheesy pasta sauce

Sketches of toddler peacefully playing and watching tv (with caption: this boy hasn't napped today!)

Sketches of toddler in a bad mood: crying because my bicycle light isn't flashing; all he wants to do is lie on the floor and rewire duplo house with a bungee cord; eats a reluctant potato waffle in from of Duggee on TV and leaves masticated fishfingers all over the floor; refuses a bath; demands medicine and then he's fine

Sketch of my genius plan - teach the toddler to wash up - what could go wrong? Sketch of toddler and me at the sink - he's saying "more soap on it", I'm saying "very good - try not to break that one"

November sketchbook: lots of cooking, no nap day, bad mood, genius plan

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Sketch of a beech tree with a few remaining autumn leaves

Sketch of me manically hacking ice from the freezer with a fish slice while I'm supposed to be working

Sketch of toddler's first time at a traditional birthday party - he learns to navigate the bouncy castle, and has his first experiences of party rings and putting hula hoops on his fingers

Sketch of SNOW! Toddler is very excited about snow outside the window ("it 'nowing it 'nowing) but very upset about going outside in it. I then cycle to work, admiring pretty Oxford but getting my socks soaked, because I wore unsuitable boots. Luckily I did have the wisdom to bring spare dry socks to the office.

November sketchbook: tree, freezer, bouncy castle, snow!!

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Sketches of a trip to Science Oxford, where toddler enoys shooting scarfs up pipes, amazing waterplay, and liivng out his dreams of being an electrician; we bring chalk to the playground which all the children play with except my toddler; toddler doesn't enjoy first firework encounter (he's on my shoulders going "go back in house go back in house) but he does want to talk about them in his cot

sketches of toddler in a yellow raincoat and orange cat ears playing with sticks in the park (and looking very sweet)

Sketches in which I try and think of good things in the wake of the US election: the toddler, fixing my bike stand (go me), emergency crisps, buing a new torch from new hardware shop, fixing Vietnamese full stops, kitchen disco

Sketches of a day in November: morning with granny; rearranging leaves in Botanical Gardens; toddler has long nap while I literally wrestle the printer to get it to reliquish chewed paper; toddler very sad after nap but cheers up after two chocolate owls; we see the moon coming out from behind a cloud; owl-themed bedtime - both cuddling toy owls and reading Owl Babies

Sketchbook diaries from November: Science Oxford and fireworks; cat ears in the park; trying to think of good things in the wake of the US election (obviously the world has gone from bad to awful since then); printer wrestling and chocolate owls

#kidlit #parentingComics #parenting #soloMumByChoice

Sketches of toddler's nighttime diversionary tactics: turning off lights so he can 'bang into things in the dark', counting stars, pretending to cut my fingernails and hide the imaginary clippings around the room, continuing to pretend to be at Reading festival, and apparently his toy Mummy Owl needs to bang into things too

Sketch of dark trees with few remaining autumn leaves in various colours, a flock of birds, a lamppost

Sketch of the best "toys" at my parents' houes: CD player, toy cake, book about money, toy merry go-round, trumpet, radio, sink, doorbell, toilet flush

Sketches of cursed Halloween - I have a cold again and no sense of taste but apparently not covid; I can find no pumpkins but carve a butternut squash (to look like a cat); I forgot to bring buggy to nursery pickup, but carry toddler home on my shoulders (he's dressed as an orange ginger cat)

Sketchbook diaries from October: diversionary tactics, trees, top toys, cursed Halloween

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Sketches of the suspected scabies incident - I've got an itchy back (toddler is fine); doctor asks if toddler has been biting me and then suggest scabies (yuk!); I am distracted from work by reading about sealing everything in plastic bags; I cover toddler in cream while he's distracted by telly - it's surprisingly fine; I wash EVERYTHING on hygiene pluys setting and seal it in plastic bags

Sketch (one of many) of sick toddler asleep on my bed

Sketch of toddler happily wading through piles of autumn leaves (caption: "in a somewhat trying week of stomach bug/cold/scabies, a lovely autumn moment")

Sketches of a troublesome evening: 7.20 exhausted toddler falls asleep on my breast; 7.30 I make TERRIBLE mistkae of trying to move him from bed to cot; 8.20 he is wide awake and wants to play "Reading festival" (where I sing "loud music" and we dance under a duvet tent; 9.47 I eventually stroke him to sleep

October sketchbook: illness season strikes in earnest,with suspected scabies and a sick toddler (content warning for sketches of my itchy back)

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A sketch of me wheeling happy toddler in pram during a massive rainstorm, while drainpipes pour water into the gutter - all coloured in with blue watercolour paint (partly applied by the toddler)

Sketches of games with toddler: drumming on bedknob, throwing stones in fountain, kicking cafe window, painting (but only orange), little home in playground including imaginary toilet, hoovering with a chair

Sketches of domesticity and its results: cooking sweet potato curry and chips - all refused (he was sad because he really wanted the "odange chips" but then didn't like them); vast amounts of laundry and then we hide under my duvet cover and pretend it's a tent at Reading festival

Sketch of an autumn trip to Cutteslowe park, including playground, walking on railway lines, eating fishfingers, finding conkers, feeding swans

Autumn sketchbooks - drainpipe day, today's games, much domesticity, and a trip to the park

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Sketches of "my terrible life" - toddler has forgotten how to sleep (I am depicted kneeling next to him with sore nipples sobbing "PLEASE go to sleep") - relatedly we both have colds and he has a tooth coming; also, my work dictionary software is broken and attempts to fix it make it worse; and while drawing this I allowed toddler to play with baby monitor and he unplugged it, so now I can't see him

Sketch of me and toddler finding conkers and shouting "Aha" when we find one. We're next to the river (where there is a duck and approaching yellow kayak) under a chestnut tree which also contains several swings

Sketches of "the story of last night" - I tuck toddler into bed at 8; 8.10 he's screaming so I put him down to rampage while I wash up (i.e. eat crisps); 8.40 I come and snuggle with him and he is being frustratingly adorable and non-sleepy with his owl toy and trying to steal my glasses; 9.15 he demands to read a book and starts "reading" the writing (apparently it goes "one two one two one two"); 9.30 I feed to to sleep

Sketches of a day with toddler: rain threatens; toddler appreciates the wiring at the story museum and eat substandard hash browns; we wake up to a storm and make cheese scones and duplo merry-go-rounds; swing at the playground, blow bubbles; toddler loses my keys then finds them; I am mean about bedtime and toddler eventually goes to sleep without feeding

September sketchbook: this was the month the toddler forgot how to sleep (and discovered conkers)

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Sketches of a silly night - I have a cold, the washing machine is full of poo, I'm meant to be packing, toddler won't go to sleep (wants to find buttons on duvet, discuss ferry boat, goes to sleep, wakes up again and needs feeding to sleep)

Sketch of delighted toddler in waterproof suit wielding a hosepipe

10 sketches of my friend's cat, Majel, in increasingly improbable poses

Sketch of kitchen scales, bowl of apples, and many things that need washing up

September sketchbook: a stupid evening, toddler with hosepipe, my friend's cat, still life with apples

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Sketch of yellow- and green-roofed market stalls, a woman in a yellow summer dress wandering past holding a drink

Sketch of blackberry and apple crumble being prepared - apples in bowl and stewing, crumble topping in another bowl, blackberries in a tub

Sketch of Cowley Road carnival fairground - children on bouncy castle, spinning swing tower, terrifying spinny thing...

Sketches of toddler's ongoing fascination with pipes: connecting the hoover, staring at the U bend, pumping up the bike tire (which then goes flat on the way to nursery pick up and I only just get there in time)

End of summer sketchbook: Gloucester Green market, apples and blackberries, Cowley Road carnival, pipes

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Sketch of travel home from holiday (done between Eastleigh and Winchester at 21.53) - leave amid much chaos; 30 minutes car nap is all we get; ferry is notable for funnels, "funny man" (magician), pom bears on the deck, posh fish and chip restaurant; finally get on train but toddler not keen on sleeping (crawling around going "mind the gap"); but then he sleeps until we get home about midnight!

Sketches of toddler's holiday highlights: pom bears, making stone rainbows, washing line "hosepipes", sand waterfalls, car phone cable, big plate of chips, Bruno the dog, velcro house, paddling, windmill, Briquebec castle garden, Rowan making funny noises, "find more grass seeds", real screwdriver, sugary breakfast cereals, funnels, merry-go-round. My holiday highlights: mostly tea and company

More holiday sketches from August: the voyage home and the toddler's holiday highlights

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Black and white sketches of travel with toddler: I am so nervous; eat lots of crisps on train; explain Reading festival (toddler is thrilled at the concept of loud music); eat fish and chips and admire beer taps; get stuck in a playground; panic about buses; run around ferry port and getreprimanded for abandoning our pram; utter failure to get toddler to sleep in pram; finally on board overnight ferry - can't assemble travel cot despite toddler's enthusiastic help; he's still awake at 10.30 singing "dum dum dum" in cot

Sketch of 3 adults and 3 small kids playing in tide pools at the beach - toddler's first paddle!

Black and white sketch of man asleep on sofa and dog curled up asleep on the floor

Sketch of man and child assembling a climbing frame in a large garden next to an old stone barn with ivy growing on it; dog inspects flowers nearby

August holiday to Normandy: overnight ferry, first paddle, sleepy dog, building a climbing frame

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Sketches of toddler's second birthday celebrations - owl-shaped chocolate cake, extraordinary number of presents (mostly owls), most of the family, pretty much all the potato-y/breadcrumb-y snacks you can think of (hash browns, waffles, crisps, fishfingers), slightly too much transport, an entire model village (Bekonscot) which the toddler is ignoring in favour of a broken drainpipe

Sketches of toddler's favourite toy - the cardboard tube, which functions as a hoover, a trombone, a ball run, and an egg making device (roll the toy eggs down it to make them crack in a bowl at the bottom)

Sketches of toddler's real (pronounced "riddle") birthday - watching Twirlywoos, to nursery with a caterpillar cake, to the pub for pizza and chips - but more importantly to the the big extractor fan and play with the hosepipe

Sketch of toddler playing with cat-shaped watering can near garden tap. He's saying "you making lake"

Sketchbook diaries from August: in which the toddler turns two!!

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Sketches of toddler and baby hanging out in garden in sunhats, a sandpit table, and a smart-looking tabby cat

Sketch of an attempt to take toddler swimming with a bird's eye view of a swimming pool - accidentally plunge into deep end, shallow end not much better, toddler calms down enough to tell me "it got water in it", and he enjoys watching the adult swimmers but concludes that it was "a bit scary" for now

Sketch of my old teddy bear Mary in a blue sweater and shirt, leaning on some blue mugs next to a small blue and white pot

Sketches of my toddler in a sunhat, rapturous at discovering a big fan at our local playgroup (along with a couple of sketches of other people's kids)

Sketchbook diaries: hanging out in my brother's garden, minimally successful swimming trip, Mary the bear, a big fan at our weekly playgroup!

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Sketch of toddler in a sunhat and my mum playing next to a fallen tree - toddler is saying "owl nest tree fall down"

Sketches of a trip to the dentist - I wake up to a cold and the world's biggest spreadsheet, then go to the dentist for 3 fillings. I'm dreading the needle, but then have a lovely doze during the actual filling process.

Sketch of soft toys in toddler's cot: a rabbit, two octopuses, a marshmallow, two mice, a gorilla, an elephant, a stegosaurus and an owl

Still life sketch - kilner jars of porridge and flour, empty mugs, empty milk bottle, and a fly in the foreground

Sketchbook diaries from the summer (on this snowy day) - fallen tree, dentist, toys, still life with milk bottle

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Black and white sketch of tall pine tree, overshadowing bus and belisha beacon

Black and white sketch of brightly coloured clothes on washing line, above garden chair, old bike, toy car

Sketch of toddler falling asleep during Nick Cope set at the rusty bike street party - Nick Cope is singing "I'm a little lizard standing on a rock", my toddler is fast asleep in his pram; also another toddler dancing and a little dog

Sketch of "the saga of big fan" - toddler loves fans of all kinds, but is terrified when I turn on the tower fan in his room; and yet he is fascinated by it - sits on it, looks at the vents and the wire, pretends to press buttons, but refuses to let me actually turn it on; then a friend gave him a windmill and showed how he could use a fan to make it turn - this finally reconciled him with big fan and now the problem is getting him to stop turning it on

Sketchbook diaries from July: tree on Manzil way, washing line, Nick Cope, and the saga of big fan

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Black and white sketch of toddler's favourite toys: radio, bike pump ,whisk, hoover, straw (that he pretends is a screwdriver)

Long tall sketch of a yellow crane against a dramatic sky (plus a red kite bird flying in background)

Sketches of a day with toddler - playing with 'screwdriver' straw; hanging out in sandpit; filling watering can in garden full of ants; terrible scenes as he accidentally drains all the water from his bath

Sketches of another day with toddler: playing in mud kitchen; pretending to be squirrels; a blood-inducing bump on a slide; outing without the pram to buy bananas; can't sleep because of storm (toddler think it will blow down a tree)

Toddler diaries from July: the best toys, crane, screwdrivers, and mud kitchen

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Sketches of good things in toddler life (running in graveyard, fishfingers, dancing with the radio) and not so good things (hairwashing, terrifying-yet-fascinating big fan, sleeping in a hot room)

Sketches of the horrows of nightweaning - get toddler to sleep (after singing "what shall we do with the drunken sailor"); all well until 2.30 in the morning, at which point I repeatedly leave him to cry for short stretches, stroke, and eventually end up lying on the floor telling him stories about a tiny bug; at 4.15 I give in and feed him back to sleep

Sketches from 5th July - toddler awake 3.30 to 5 in the morning, but for once I don't mind as I get to watch Rees Mogg losing his seat; distracted at work day especially when Python course makes me do maths; suprise chaotic pub trip with kids and usual bedtime mania

Sketches of various blue crockery, holding things like tea, strawberries, and bluberry cake

Toddler diaries from July: mostly complaints about night-weaning, but also a happy election result and some cake!

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Sketches of memorable trips: waterfall, ferry trip, jumping on drains; and memorable meals (mostly carbs): hash browns, chips, peach and coconut scone, whatever poisoned me yesterday (could have been huge lotus cake)

Sketches of things toddler does in the garden: plays with hosepipe, points out nesting box, climbs "mountain" of steps, watering can, makes owl nests with sticks, puts sticks in sundials, crumbles pine leaves into scummy water, hunts for tiny snails, throws stones on his head

Sketch of people swimming in Windermere - also sailing boats and ducks

Sketch of journey home - toddler not keen on car and then throws up porridge and crips (thankfully mostly missing the hire car) - things get better with second breakfast of hash browns at Stockport station, playing with cement mixer in train corridor and I get to relax when he falls asleep on my lap; we get home and toddler says his longest even sentence ("more water big one") and I have a great sense of achievement at making it home!

More sketches from holiday to Lake District in June - memorable trips, garden activities, swimming in Windermere, (fairly traumatic) journey home

#kidlit #kidlitArt #toddlerDiaries #sketchbook #sketchbookDiaries #parentingComics #comicDiaries #parenting #dailySketchbook #soloMumByChoice #windermere

Sketches of journey from Oxford to Lake Windermere - after various disasters (soap in eye, missing bus...) we eat hula hoops on the train; we find my parents and amazingly S. sleeps in car and wakes up to play with stones at a garden centre; things then get very screamy (despite repeated applications of Yellow Submarine); we make an emergency supermarket stop (S. is hyper and removes all jam from the shelf), then eventually reach the lake and the house which is entirely composed on stairs!

Black and white sketch of holiday house - two long farmhouses whacked together, ivy growing round door, garden chairs and pram (with sleeping kid) outside

Black and white sketch from Brockhole garden - mountains, lakes in background; in foreground flowers and feet of sleeping child

Sketches of small children playing under trees in gardens of Wray Castle

Sketchbook diaries from June: to the mountains! (family holiday to Windermere)

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Sketch of guitarist and trombonist in the playground (playing "if you're silly and you know it blow a raspberry"), surrounded by parents and kids with various instruments

Sketches of "Dentistry and Disasters" - wake up very early to go to the dentist, only to discover that our appointment was 8.50 not 8.15 - S. is very patient and reads his booka about a "nornal bird" while my teeth are done. I get to use the "tiny air pipe" while the dentist counts his sixteen teeth. Bad news - I have to come back and have three expensive fillings - and then accidentally bite my mouth while eating a rice cake.

Sketches of a tiring day - full morning's activity before 9.30 - hoovering, tv, garden in the rain; take toddler to museum where he plays with card rack and eats a brownie and then becomes very hyper; suddenly contract a cold while doing mortgage admin

Sketch of garden - wooden chair, watering can, Christmas tree in a pot

Sketchbook diaries from June: music in the playground, Dentistry and Disasters, hyper in the museum, Christmas tree in June...

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Sketches of chaos with toddler and two other small boys - playing with bubbles and stones in garden, chasing toy cars around a rocking horse, watching telly, eating a lot of pasta

Sketches of travelling home from London with toddler - he enjoys escalators and repeating "Euston Square" and train crisps - we reach home and both nap and then toddler demands a trip to the library - mainly running around but we do get some books!

Sketch of St Barnabas church in Jericho Oxford against a blue sky with lots of dramatic white clouds - done in a pleasingly scratchy pen

Sketches of a silly day - toddler wakes me up at 5.30 (shouting "down down down" - finally time to leave the house - and then I spend all day doing a stupid thing on a spreadsheet. I cycle up and down a hill to pick up a black board, retrieve toddler from a disco party at nursery, and then have an insight into my spreadsheet problem while breastfeeding at bed time.

Sketchbook diaries from June: chaos with three small boys; travelling home from London; St Barnabas Jericho; a silly day

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Sketches of toddler enjoying fountain at Botanical gardens, making himself useful doing the hoovering, playing with lego like a child, and eating a giant "brookie" brownie

Sketches of an exhausting bank holiday Monday - trip to garden centre including hash browns, peacocks, hosepipe; very brief nap in car; playing in garden with tap and unexpectedly disturbed ants' nest (!); toddler passes out; trip to the playground; washing up

Sketch of adorably asleep toddler in his cot, with mobile above him

Sketchbook diaries from May - Botanical Gardens, garden centre, sleepy toddler

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