Three Beautiful Things

1. When Caroline tells Jay it's time for a nappy change, he makes exactly the face that I remember his father Oli (who I worked with at the oast) making when he had to do a task he disliked. 2. Out of all the toys, the one they really want to play with is Alec's doll, Baby. Jay carries him round the garden, and then Elodie must have a go. She holds him to her shoulder and pats him on the back. And then it's Jay's turn again. Baby (playing the part of Little Mia) spends the afternoon at nursery in the sitting room. I can't bring myself to refer to him as her, which makes Elodie frown at me. 3. Elodie, who is nearly six, says she has enjoyed coming to Tunbridge Wells "where I spent my childhood".

1. The homesick orchid on our kitchen windowsill has produced a flower. 2. A buttery, nutty, sweet avocado. 3. Finally I get up to go along the landing, but by the time I find my dressing gown, the light has gone out and all is quiet again.

1. In the morning (after a night alone with Nick) when I go to look, Alec and my mother are sprawled asleep across her bed. Downstairs, my father is considering tea. "How was it?" I ask him. I feel very guilty. "It was fine, apart from the kicking. I think he woke up twice." 2. As soon as Alec is down for his morning nap, and as soon as the rain has stopped, and before anyone asks to come with us, Nick and I set out into the glistening forest to follow tracks in the mud, sniff the spicy pines and to find frogs under the dripping trees. 3. "Your mother says she is besotted."

1.  To hold a very small baby and see that this week, she is looking back at you. 2. There is a definite buzz about the park today: big screens are going up so the town can gather and watch the opening of the Olympics. Coloured banners make gateways of the green paths, and a large number of nonchalant dog walkers (who just happen to be passing) observe the work, while other people pretend that they've just come out to give the kids a go in the playground. 3. "I suggest you work until 10 o'clock and then we can watch the opening ceremony together," says Nick as he wanders into the sitting room. I look at him dozily, and then sink back into the task. "Darling girl, you're missing it!" I come back up and go through to watch the fireworks and within minutes I'm glued to the set. I love the parade of athletes best, with the commentators vying to provide the most obscure information about each team, and I was so happy for the first women olympians fr...

1. Louise brings strawberry tarts for our puddings. They are sweet and tart and juicy and creamy and crisp and buttery all at once. 2. The butter was meant to be chilled, but it's such a hot day that it was soft enough to slide off a spoon. The dough is much easier to work with, and in the end the scones aren't that much heavier than usual. 3. Alec is furious when I get him out of the backpack. He is tears and snot and flailing heels and arching spine in a pair of little red shorts. I think he's overtired and got a bit over-excited at nursery -- I noticed two of the staff had brought him down to the garden on his own at hometime, and he was running around like a clockwork toy. I take him upstairs to bed and -- somehow -- manage to get a clean nappy and a clean T-shirt on him. Then I offer him some bub and it's as if I've pressed an off-switch. He's asleep before we can do the second side, and I go downstairs feeling lopsided. The clock shows that we've b...

1. To walk in the garden and pull out a few strands of bindweed. "It's satisfying," says Cat, and it is. Later she comments: "I want them to gorge themselves on blackberries." 2. To duck under the branches of a weeping willow on a very hot day. 2b. We come to Tulse Hill after a long walk in the parched afternoon. I sit down, with Alec still in the backpack and get the water out. He takes his cup over my shoulder, saying in a pitiful tone: "Tea!" 3. When we get to London Bridge, the lady with the box of chicken and chips, and the lady with the euphonium say "It's been good talking to you" and I tell them the same.

1. Porridge with cream and rivers of golden syrup. 2. It's too hot to think about lunch. We normally eat at the pool on a Monday, but it's the first day of the holidays and I just couldn't face swimming. I take Alec up on my shoulders and go to the pub, where we sit in a cool, empty dining room beside an open door. The landlord makes Alec laugh and we eat food cooked by someone else. 3. Alec is playing by the climbing frame that's meant for big children -- he likes to waggle his fingers through the holes in the climbing wall. Suddenly a flock of giant tweens appear from no-where. I'm about to move him to safety, but he stands his ground. They gather round him, the closer ones kneeling and the outside ones standing and I hear them ask him about the aeroplane on his T-shirt. I hear them say: "If you could talk, what would you say?" Then suddenly a phone rings and he's forgotten (not that he cares, he wants to go on the roundabout now).