5am: I stayed up all night watching my son who successively wanted to eat a banana, play marbles, cuddle, not sleep. Now I watch him sleep while I have to get up in 1h, take him to daycare and go to work. Oh & I want chocolate. what a privilege to only have this kind of issue🙂↕️
#solomum #singleparent
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
#kidlit #kidlitArt #toddlerDiaries #sketchbook #sketchbookDiaries #parentingComics #comicDiaries #parenting #dailySketchbook #soloMum #soloMumByChoice #smbc #soloParent
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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Mackenzie - a little girl in an orange hoodie - is rolling out marzipan on a kitchen table
Mackenzie - a little girl in an orange hoodie - and Granny Sue - a white woman with light hair - are rolling out marzipan on a kitchen table. In the foreground is a Christmas cake glistening because we covered it in apricots jam!
Mackenzie - a little girl in an orange hoodie - and Kirstie (but with her head cut off!) are adding icing snowflakes to the Christmas cake
Mackenzie - a little girl in an orange hoodie - and Kirstie - a white woman smiling at the camera - are cutting out snowflakes from icing on the kitchen table
Christmas cake icing with Granny Sue.
#HappyHolidays #Christmas #SoloMum #SoloParent #GranniesAreTheBest
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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The other thing is that she’s picked up on me saying “are you ready” after the instrumental while he’s talking to his parents. I don’t even know I was doing it until this little voice from the back seat of the car started saying “are you ready mama?” Glorious.
#SoloMum #SoloParent #ShowtuneFamily 🥰
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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Sketch of toddler with tousled hair asleep on a big bed
Black and white sketch of Sutton Hoo viewing tower (minimalist style, made of wood and concrete), two pine trees, toddler and my dad
Sketch of journey home from Suffolk - we survive thanks to pastries, yellow submarine, playground stop, exciting aeroplane, and repeatedly recounting the plot of Hey Duggee - the juice badge
5 sketches of toddler playing in the park with a mud kitchen - wearing blue trousers, yellow T shirt, blue spotty sunhat
Diaries from May: sleepy toddler, Sutton Hoo viewing tower, journey home from Suffolk, playing in the park
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Black and white sketch of beach and building with little tower at Aldeburgh - done hurriedly in the ten minutes when the rain had stopped and the toddler was having a bath!
Sketch of toddler on stony beach posting stones into a rowing boat (and Shelby the sheep - a soft toy who nursery sent on holiday with us)
Sketches of "classic seaside holiday" - toddler feverish/teething, endlessly singing yellow submarine in the car, crisps in the rain on the beach, suddenly need suncream, fish pie!
Sketches of our trip to Benjamin Britten's house: home of disaster napping. Toddler didn't go to sleep on the rainy walk to the house, then got tired and screamed so loudly he set off the fire door; got him to contact nap in the rain - for 20 minutes. At least the rain stopped for the walk home!
Sketchbook diaries from May - all the makings of a classic seaside holiday - i.e. rain and teething grumpy toddler!
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“Being a single mum isn’t easy, but it’s a journey full of strength, love, and resilience. 💪✨ You’re doing the work of two, showing up every day, and proving that challenges can’t hold you back. Remember, it’s okay to ask for help, take a break, or just breathe—you deserve it.
#solomum #mumclub
Three sketches in black and white of a woman (my sister in law) breastfeeding a small baby with sticky-up hair
Diagram/sketches showing logistics of getting extended family to the park - family is split into three parties (each with one of the children) - we all eventually get to the park and home again, but the parties only barely overlap!
Sketch of tea and scone. Caption "at John Lewis while they run updates on my computer. But they have successfully diffused* my irritation by giving me a complementary tea and scone" *I probably meant defused
6 sketches of the toddler playing in the garden, sometimes with no trousers on - he is enjoying a watering can, a squirty bottle, and lots of bubbles
Sketchbook diaries from May: FINALLY meet my new baby nephew, logistics of getting extended family to the park; complementary scone; toddler and bubbles
#kidlit #kidlitArt #toddlerDiaries #sketchbookDiaries #parentingComics #comicDiaries #parenting #dailySketchbook #soloMum #soloMumByChoice
Sketch of young apple tree in bloom plus a butterfly and a bee
Sketch of several boats on the river - rowers going at it hard - and a duck
Sketch of things in the kitchen (a plant, open tins of tomato, and cup of tea and half eaten digestive) - caption "Covid"
Sketch of eleven pine cones, in black and white
Sketchbook diaries from April: apple tree in bloom, boats on the river - then I got Covid - and the toddler found some pinecones
#kidlit #kidlitArt #babyDiaries #toddlerDiaries #sketchbook #sketchbookDiaries #parentingComics #parenting #dailySketchbook #soloMum #soloMumByChoice #smbc #soloParent
Sketch of a blue and red narrowboat under a vibrantly green willow tree
Sketches of Easter highlights: toddler discovers chocolate (he's saying "hiding open open open"; my mum takes toddler away when he wakes up early; toddler naps for two hours while we do crossword; ducks; we accidentally get splashed by a contraption at the playground
Sketch of me throwing up in a bucket and deciding not to travel to Manchester as planned. Instead the toddler makes me "stone tea" in the mud kitchen in the park and I eat a lot of plain porridge, plain pasta, and potato waffles
A sketch of two blue narrowboats under a bridge - which a man and dog are crossing
Toddler diaries from April: two sketches by the canal, S. discovers chocolate, and I am sick in a bucket
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Sketch of a shreddies packet, a weetabix packet, a bran flakes packet
Sketches of "a silly evening": S. was feverish at nursery and I didn't see phone calls (and I feel very sorry), no food or bath - just nappy juggling (S. seems much more cheerful), 8.30 and washing up not started (I'm sitting next to a pile of dirty dishes eating crisps) and S. is sitting up in bed having learnt to take off his shirt (he's saying "wow! mum!)
Sketch of me feeling ill - surrounded by monitor showing a non sleepy toddler saying "hee hee", book, soothing porridge, toilet roll to use as tissues, "I love hue too" soothing phone game, podcast about princess Diana, lots of water, and knowledge that this will end
Sketches of "bedtime these days" - toddler admires his blue light, removes his socks, giggles at the notion he might want to lie down, kisses his soft toys and then drops them out of the cot (ugh oh), chews his books, and repeat...
Toddler diaries from March: still life with breakfast cereals, S. is ill, I am ill, bedtime these days...
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Sketches of highlights from museum of natural history (from a toddler point of view): the floor, the stairs, the fire extinguishers, the safety cones, the card rack in the gift shop
Peaceful sketch of narrowboat on the river, a bridge and some ducks
Sketches of the Boiler incident - boiler broke and I try to fill bath from kettle - S. is fascinated (partly because it's a little like the plot of The Tiger who came to Tea) but won't get in it
Sketches of toddler playing, including "reading" a book by saying "guwa gunwa gunwa"
Toddler diaries: highlights from museum of natural history, river sketching on day off (!), the boiler incident, and toddler playing
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Sketches of things child is upset about today: wanted to read a book about cats but I didn't know which of our many books about cats he meant; in the playground I suggested he play with sometihng other than a hedge; we were in a trouser shop (fair enough); he only wanted to eat curry with my tiny cat spoon so he could pretend to feed the cat
Sketch of my messy desk, computer, sweatersdraped over chair (caption: "feeling bleaargh - drawing in bed")
Sketch of my kitchen counter: Carrs biscuit packet, tin of digestives, yellow tin, rice cake packet, bubbles, breadknife
Sketches of toddler at botanical gardens - enjoying ivy, reeds, pretending to be a train, big leaf, sitting in tree, fountain
Toddler diaries from February: what is the toddler cross about today, feeling bleaargh, still life with digestives, and Botanical Gardens
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Sketches of angry toddler, because: he can't remember how to lie down in his cot, I took some fishfinger out of his mouth, washing up liquid bottle not doing what he wants it to, wants pasta and wants it NOW
Sketches of the day I went to work in the rain for important 9 am meeting, computer wouldn't switch on, IT man suggested throwing it into the bin, then it worked again just when I'd got set up on a new computer, and generally everyone and everything got wet
Sketch of my friends' cat Ziggy taking advantage of a rare moment when all the kids are absent
Sketches of a day with a sick toddler - he is very sad and only wants to look at pictures of granny on my phone and then he is sick in the playground!
Toddler diaries: angry toddler, broken computer, friend's cat, and the sick-in-the-playground incident
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A sketch of a massive pile of washing up in and around the sink, in blue
Sketch of the "washing up fairy caught in the act" (my mum at the sink)
Sketches of the toddler playing with toys, including toy cash register (ding!)
Sketch where I say to a friend "S. is not yet at tantrum stage, which is nice" - immediately followed by S. screaming about how he wants pizza box/knife, he wants bubbles (but only if he can hold the wand), he wants yoghurt but also not yoghurt, he wants to play with Henry the Hoover.
Toddler diaries: lots of washing up, playing with cash register, old enough for tantrums?
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Sketches of a day with toddler: woken up by being bounced on; pleasant trip to the playground; S. runs off in goldfish shop and falls down a staircase - but is astonishingly fine!
Sketches of us spotting an early morning fox in the graveyard, and enjoying a sunset from the swings on top of South Parks
Sketch of the bicycle trailer all ready to go (caption: going to try this tomorrow)
Sketches of me putting the toddler in the bike trailer (he's deeply unconvinced), and managing to get to nursery and work and back with much faffing, but without any road accidents
Toddler diaries from January: the stair incident, fox in the graveyard, toddler in the bike trailer...
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Sketch of things I can eat during a stomach bug: ginger tea, black tea, haribo, crisps, potato waffles, 2 shreddies, wooden biscuits
Sketches from a trip to the Ashmolean with the toddler - sketches of camel, horse and stompy person. Toddler liked a light on the floor and was terrified by the hand drier.
Sketches of life with toddler: apart from head bumps and snot, we have fun posting toy owl in the oven, pretending calculator is a phone, playing "toss the cake" and wearing nappy hats
Sketches of me with a cold and everything feeling like clouds of confusion. On the plus side, I have paid my taxes, the toddler slept well and is enjoying using the bin and I get to go to bed now!
Toddler diaries from last January - it'll basically be non-stop viruses for the next several months - plus taxes and a trip to the Ashmolean
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Sketch of toddler and his grandfather, feeding coots and pigeons under a yellow willow tree
Sketch of trays of freshly baked bagels on a kitchen table
Sketch of me in the mirror and toddler asleep on the bed (caption: 11 years of daily sketching - S. is feeling better but apparently hates the travel cot)
Sketches of two toddler cousins - ignoring each other, co-existing, competing over a toy train, and collaborating to turn on the dishwasher
Toddler diaries from last Christmas: boxing day walk, freshly baked bagels, self portrait, and cousin times
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