This is the Monkeymoo that inspired the book.
I will always remember the time well. Keiran was new. Very new. Still had that new baby smell. The kind of wholesome smell you want to breath in as if you were drinking at the fountain of youth. It was Halloween, and we got the smallest costume we could find for Keiran. It was still a little too large, but he didn't complain. I was finishing grad school, and Loreen was working at the IWK (Halifax Childrens' Hospital). It was a fun and relatively carefree time of life.
It was that breezy night, October 31, 2007, when we first came up with the name monkeymoo. Keiran was dressed in a Dalmatian outfit that was a few sizes too big, and was acting like a monkey, something that has not yet changed these past few years, I hope it never does. We couldn't quite see him as a Dalmation and thought the spots looked more like a Holstein (I did grow up in Alberta). Now, note the mischievous look he has. He's still got it, only it's been perfected over the years, something that I fear may one day be the rue of his mothers and my existance! Coupling that little mischievous look with the Holstein outfit, we quickly dubbed him the Monkeymoo.
A few weeks later I decided I must write a book about the creature, as the name was simply too delicious to remain a name; it required a story. In my spare time hanging out with Keiran, between Architectural critiques and thesis exams, I wrote the story. Since then I've been slowly, oh so slowly, illustrating it.
 |
| My Monkeymoo - only a few weeks old |