Author: Rebecca Cuneo Keenan

Rebecca Cuneo Keenan is a writer who lives in Toronto with her husband and three children.

Categories
Uncategorized

Mothers and Fathers

DAILY SNACK

Dear Son,

I am your mother,

And I carried you in my womb for nine long months,

And I laboured for over 20 hours before giving birth to you.

I breastfed you for 18 months,

And I’ve spent countless hours holding you and rocking you.

We’ve read hundreds of books,

And walked many miles and shared a lot of laughs.

But it was your father who took you down that big-ass hill at break-neck speed,

When you were only three years old.

IMG_0872

It was your father who sat behind you as the snow flew up and hit you in the face,

And you just kept going.

And when the sled finally stopped and you could catch your breath,

You said to your father,

“That was great!”

Categories
Uncategorized

Just Like A Girl’s Best Friend to Leave Her at the Mall

DAILY SNACK

I almost forgot to mention,

How we all took a quick jaunt to the Dufferin Mall the other day,

Because my husband had nothing to wear.

(It doesn’t always feel like I’m married to a 15 year old girl.)

And I was browsing through the clearance rack at H&M,

When my engagement ring snagged a sweater.

The reason for this is that,

At some point during our mall visit,

The diamond FELL OUT of the ring.

I am now left with a white gold band with a raised setting for a small diamond.

And that there can be pretty scratchy.

It just goes to show you,

That NO GOOD can come out of a trip to the Dufferin Mall.

No how, no way, not ever.

Think about it.

And, uh, happy New Year.

Whatever. Stupidest holiday of all time.

Until the invention of Family Day. I almost forgot.

Categories
Contests

Perfect For Preschoolers: Pengoloo

Colum loves the idea of a board game, but Colum is also a three-year-old boy. Sitting down to a game of Snakes and Ladders, then, is an exercise is slowly mounting frustration for all involved. Either that or a random game of tossing dice and moving little pieces around willy-nilly until Irene comes over and tries to eat one. He just doesn’t have the patience for any sort of prolonged roll-and-move, turn-taking game. So when he unwrapped this Pengoloo game at Grandma and Grandpa’s on Christmas Eve, I was skeptical. Great. Another game that I don’t have time to play during the day that will infuriate his sister and ultimately end up in whining and floor-rolling.

Continue reading “Perfect For Preschoolers: Pengoloo”
Categories
Uncategorized

Clothes Are For Chumps

DAILY SNACK

The good thing about my job description,

Is that there is absolutely no dress code.

So when I decide to make this a holiday week, too,

And simply don’t bother getting the kids dressed,

(And then shoved into snow pants and coats and the rest)

Until lunch,

Nobody can give me heck.

That’s what I thought anyway.

Until the library called to say that Colum’s books are overdue.

I guess we should have gotten out of here this morning after all.

Categories
Uncategorized

Holiday Hangover

DAILY SNACK

This year was better than most,

In that Christmas fell on a Friday.

That meant that we had a long weekend in which to recover.

But it still wasn’t enough.

There are new toys to make room for,

And wads of tissue paper hidden everywhere,

And chocolates and fir needles and stray bits of tinsel.

Now there is this nether week,

These few work days between Christmas and New Years,

Without benefit of nursery school,

Or any of the regular kids’ programs.

But with work to get done for us grown ups.

It’s the year’s big hangover week.

And I just want to stay in bed.

Categories
Uncategorized

Props To Me and You

DAILY SNACK

Sometimes,

Amongst the old ladies that cross the street to reprimand,

“That baby needs a scarf,”

And the withering looks from other moms

As you stop for Kraft Dinner at the supermarket,

And the Jon-and-Kate-Octomom-Balloon Boy spectacle,

Someone bothers to approach you with kind words.

A woman stopped us on our way out of the hospital,

After we’d been juggling the kids

For several hours

While Ed’s father was being admitted,

Just to say,

“I think you are wonderful parents.”

Thank you, kind lady,

Because no parent hears that nearly enough.

Categories
Uncategorized

Timber!

DAILY SNACK

We got our Christmas tree on Sunday,

And decorated it the next night.

I got some fantastic shots of the bottom branches

Straining under the weight of all the ornaments.

I would share them here,

Except my camera-to-computer cord seems to have wandered off,

So it will likely be January before I can upload them.

And then, this morning,

Colum took most of the decorations off the bottom branches

To play with them.

And was re-hanging them on the other side of the tree when,

Whack!

Yup, the whole thing came down

Just missing my kid.

Miraculously, I was able to get it upright again,

But we’re waiting for Dad before any of the ornaments go back up.

And oh my god, the needles.

Categories
Uncategorized

Family Shopping For Another Needy Family

This week or next at a home near you.

Each year my husband’s extended family gets together the week before Christmas to shop as a family for another family. About 20 years ago (give or take a couple), they realized that they could take the money they spent on gifts for each other and help make Christmas that much more special for a needy family in their area.

Continue reading “Family Shopping For Another Needy Family”
Categories
Uncategorized

My 3-Year-Old’s Wish List

DAILY SNACK

Colum’s letter to Santa Claus as dictated to me.

Note how he begins to trail off at the end and starts looking around the room for clues.

Dear Santa Claus,

We love you. We like your toys, and we love your malls, and we love your shop, and we’d love some binoculars and a telescope and a new light bulb for my floor and some bubble bath and some dolls and some dragons and some shoes and a toy waffle maker and a dot, too.

Love,

Colum

Categories
Uncategorized

Breastfeeding Dolls With a Twist

DAILY SNACK

You’ve heard of kids breastfeeding their dolls,

Right?

It makes perfect sense.

And it’s no weirder than when I used to

Shove dolls up my shirt

Only to birth them moments later.

But picture this:

Baby Timothy needs to eat,

But Colum is pretty sure he doesn’t eat the same thing as his stuffed duck.

What do babies eat, I ask.

Milk, says Colum, homemade milk.

He then looks around the room and spots Irene,

Sitting on my lap clad only in a diaper.

So Timothy was brought over to have a drink of his mommy’s milk.

No matter that she’s only 13 months old herself,

No matter that she was trying to teeth on his head at the same time.