DAILY SNACK
She reaches up and out,
Tiny fingers graze the glass.
She is ready and eager to join in.
Let me drink from that glass, eat from that spoon.
Soon, Sweetie-pie, very, very soon.
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Author: Rebecca Cuneo Keenan
Rebecca Cuneo Keenan is a writer who lives in Toronto with her husband and three children.
One and a half hours from Toronto — only an hour and a half! — is one of the world’s greatest natural wonders and maybe my favourite vacation spot of all time. And I haven’t been there since I was a kid. I have spent an hour and a half (and much more) taking public transit to the outer burbs or walking to the beach or waiting for a cab on New Year’s Eve. Now that I own a car, though, the Falls is just a hop, skip and jump away. I love it!
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Water Play
DAILY SNACK
Post Updated
I tend not to complain much. I can probably count the times I’ve returned a product to a store on one hand. I will hardly ever send food back in a restaurant, and I don’t expect kids’ toys to last forever. But this really bothers me. I bought a little Sassy rattle as a stocking stuffer this Christmas. It was over a month before L’il I was actually able to play with it, but it was a perfect little baby rattle — an easy to hold ring with rubber grips for chewing and a soft and cheerful fish. She loved it. Well, she loved it for a whole month before I found it in pieces at the bottom of her bouncy chair.
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How to Make a Baby Laugh, 2
DAILY SNACK
He says,”GAAA!” She breaks out in baby giggles.
He says,”Knock, knock.” She laughs some more.
“Who’s there.” (That’s me.)
“Banana.” She laughs even harder.
“Banana who?” “Knock, knock.” Gut-bursting laughter.
“Who’s there.” “Orange.”
She can barely contain herself. I’m afraid her cheeks will really burst this time.
“Orange you glad I didn’t say banana!” He’s cracking up this time.
And she just looks at us and then tries to eat her feet some more.
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Best-Laid Birth Plans
I am Canadian. New York magazine, therefore, hits my news stands three weeks late and I have only just read “Extreme Birth,” Andrew Goldman’s article about NYC home-birth midwife Cara Muhlhahn and home births in general. I have been wanting a good lead-in to a home birth discussion for a long time, so even though this article prompted much online buzz about home births from such big wigs as Jezebel and salon.com’s broadsheet weeks ago, I’ll throw my two bits in anyway.
A good friend, and one of the most unabashed, frank and honest people I know, is five months pregnant and on the wait-list for a midwife in her area. I was pretty surprised because “Quick, easy, and pain free,” might as well be her motto. Both my kids were “delivered by” a midwife and I know that wanting to at least try for an unmedicated birth is really kinda the point. When I told her this, she replied that she has always been one to try the latest, trendy thing and thought she might as well see if she could go it au naturel. Is that really all this home birth talk is, then, a passing trend? Or does it represent a real backlash against the over-medicalization of childbirth and a general shift toward a less invasive approach to labour and delivery? Or could it be both?
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Party in the Park
DAILY SNACK
The wind was whipping through the playground pretty hard.
The balloons were straining on their ribbons,
And there was just no way those candles were going to stay lit.
So we set the cake before her and sang “Happy Birthday” and started to clap and cheer anyway.
Wait, she gestured. And took a deep breath and blew out three imaginary flames.
Proud as can be.
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First of the Season
DAILY SNACK
Cheeks rosy in the fresh Spring air.
Tiny fingers grip firm rubber and eyes open wide, wider, widest.
Knees bend and feet curl right up at the slightest push.
There’s that smile.
Baby’s first swing.
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Hey Rebecca: Anger Management
Hey Rebecca,
What do you do when your child throws her plastic stool when angry? She’s got a little temper!!
Radioactive Mamma
Well, RM, I know my gut reaction would be to snatch that stool away and whip it across the room myself. But that wouldn’t be “modeling appropriate behaviour,” would it? Getting a grip on our emotions is something we all struggle with from time to time, but there are clearly some extra-sensitive stages. Toddlers. Teens. Post-partum moms with a screaming four-week-old and a tantrum-y toddler? Definitely.
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Chef’s Corner
DAILY SNACK
Note to self:
Next time you drop the taco kit box, just make meatloaf instead.