DAILY SNACK
We’re way into peek-a-boo and hiding these days.
I’m not sure how long she was waiting for me to find her behind this bookshelf.
But it was clearly worth the wait.
Categories
Peek-A-Boo
Author: Rebecca Cuneo Keenan
Rebecca Cuneo Keenan is a writer who lives in Toronto with her husband and three children.
Categories
Fountain Heads
DAILY SNACK
We sat in teams of two,
On either side of the Eaton Centre fountain.
Colum and I, and Dad and Irene.
At the end of its cycle,
The fountain would remain still and empty and lifeless for a couple minutes.
“I guess it’s over now,” Colum said,
Teasing out the suspense,
“I guess there won’t be anymore.”
Then the fountain shoots a geyser up 30 feet in the air,
And we all ooh and ahh.
And pretend to be surprised,
When we really aren’t.
Except that (even though we knew what would happen) in some ways we really are.
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At the Theatre
DAILY SNACK
In a sea of pink,
There was my little strawberry-headed boy,
In broad red and black stripes.
A few pigtails over,
Were his cousins,
One in brown and gray and another pink-clad little girl.
There were exactly three boys attending this performance of,
Pinkalicious, The Musical.
All the kids sat on carpets near the stage and the adults found chairs behind them.
For 50 minutes, Colum sat and watched intently,
And then for the last ten minutes,
He found me and settled into my lap.
Not a baby anymore, certainly.
But not so big either.
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Morning Fail
DAILY SNACK
Irene has been extradorinarily clingy lately.
She whines and cries and demands to be held or played with,
Making it hard to get anything done.
So while the kids were finishing their breakfast at the kitchen table,
I snuck off to write an email.
Colum got up and ran out of the room,
And then Irene stood up, too.
In her highchair.
I hadn’t done up her highchair strap.
And then she fell.
She is completely fine, but man.
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Oh To Have A Bib
DAILY SNACK
Imagine if you ate all your meals,
With a plastic trough around your neck,
So you could just spit out too-big mouthfuls.
Or if you took a bite,
And then realized you had something to say,
You could just let said bite drop.
Into the trough.
Not all over your shirt.
Imagine.
Categories
House Shopping, Toronto Style
DAILY SNACK
On Friday morning I saw a new listing for a home in our area.
We looked at it on Saturday.
The next day we were back with a home inspector,
And then up all night deciding on our bid.
The offer was faxed in by 1pm Monday,
And we found out we beat nine other bidders by 3pm.
My head is reeling.
My gut is churning.
I am happy, this is good.
This is the steal of a lifetime, I’m sure.
But it has happened so fast and there is still so much left to sort out.
Then comes the work.
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How Far is Too Far?
DAILY SNACK
Last Sunday a friend was making the rounds
Picking up food and cash donations for Haiti.
I had agreed to donate both.
Suddenly I realized that I was home alone
With a puke prone boy and a baby girl,
A bare cupboard and an empty wallet.
I’d forgotten about Ed’s morning commitment and my own commitment to donate.
Until it was too late.
Miraculously, I did manage to extract a bag of rice, dried beans, lentils, tuna, tomatoes, and mixed fruit from my cupboards.
But the wallet wasn’t coughing anything up.
So I left Colum at home and took Irene to the bank.
Of course, we do live above a store
With a bank machine only four doors away.
We were gone for less than five minutes.
Many people have garages that are further away from their children’s bedrooms.
Don’t tell me they don’t run down to grab something from the garage.
Still.
Colum was standing at the top of the stairs when we got back.
He did not want to be left alone.
This post was inspired by Her Bad Mother’s admission to having left her sick four year old alone for a few minutes. (Which was, in turn, prompted by Anna Kournikova’s mother being charged with child neglect for leaving her five year old unattended.) I wouldn’t make a habit of running downstairs to take care of some errand or other, but I also stand by my decision in a pinch. What do you think?
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A Street By Any Other Name
DAILY SNACK
Every night before bed,
Irene and I look out her bedroom window and say goodnight.
“Good night cars, good night trucks.
Good night Dundas Street.”
So it isn’t entirely surprising that the other day,
[tweet url=http://twitter.com/playcon/statuses/7714072968]
Wow, not quite 15 months old and already she knows the name of her street.
What a genius.
Then last night,
While we were downtown,
She pointed at Bloor Street and said, “Dundas.”
Again, on the way home,
She pointed out the car window and clear as a bell said, “Dundas.”
So she thinks all streets are called Dundas.
Oh.
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His Versus Mine
DAILY SNACK
My Colum is a skinny boy with an uneven appetite.
So I do what I can to get him to eat.
His lunch:
Mine:
Categories
Throw Some Oil on That Fire
DAILY SNACK
Here’s a thought that can serve no purpose other than to stir up trouble,
But I’ve already thought it,
So here goes.
Doesn’t it bother you working parents when stay-at-home parents get all up in arms about the government instituting full-day kindergarten?
Doesn’t it bother you when they shake their fists and say that four and five year olds are too young to be in a structured, institutional evironment for six and a half hours at a time?
When they insist that the best thing for their children is to spend most of their day hanging out at home and at the park and tagging along with mom or dad?
(But not for yours, of course, because you do what you feel is right for yours and I’ll do what I feel is right for mine and there’s no judgement at all. Your kids are used to being away from home anyway, so it’s no big deal for them. But shouldn’t there be choices for parents who really love stay at home with their kids?)
Just asking because it would bother me.
Maybe that’s because I know that in choosing to not pursue typical full-time employment I do consider where I want my children spending the bulk of their time. The truth is that I want to keep them close because I think that is best for them. (I also kind of loathe keeping 9 – 5 office hours and working for anyone else in general, so that tips the scales too.)
But, really, an extra couple hours of kindergarten at age four? When other children have been in full-time daycare from 12 months of age or younger and seem perfectly happy, well-adjusted and capable?
No, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.
* * *
And just to be clear on my personal preferences regarding child care and full-time work, let me say this. While full-time day care is not my first preference, if anyone were to see fit to donate the services of a part-time caregiver I would take them up on it in a heartbeat.
In a heartbeat.
Which is not to say that I actually want anyone to pay for my child care, but rather to illustrate that while the decision to not place my children in full-time day care is not based purely on financial considerations, my current lack of a regular part-time child care solution is one hundred per cent about money.