Craft Show

I did the Movies and Makers Show on the weekend. It was in The Beaches in Toronto. What a great neighborhood that is. Both hubs and I had little 'Montreal' flashes as we were driving down Queen East. Unfortunately it was a rainy day, so the traffic at the show wasn't that high, but we still had a good time. 

It was in an old movie theatre (hence the 'movies' in the Movies and Makers title). We had little tables all down the aisles, and they played a slide show of images of all the different vendors work. It was nicely done. 

Everyone brought along their own little lamp to light their table, which created a really nice, intimate atmosphere.

It was a good test for me, in a way, to see if I could do all this with a baby in tow. The New Baby was 11 weeks old this Saturday and I was kind of worried about having him out and about with us all day. I'm a schedule mom. I mean, I'm progressive in my parenting in a lot of ways, but I do like to have them on an old-school schedule. Which means, at this point in his life that he feeds about every three hours. Then after he feeds he's awake for about an hour, or and hour and a quarter, and then I put him down for a nap and (God Willing) he sleeps for anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours, and then I feed him again and it all starts over again. The schedule worked very well for us with the Little Dude and he's still a good sleeper/napper, so I'm definitely going to do it again with the New Baby. But doing a show like this weekend means that I can't work the schedule like I do at home. There is no place to put him down for a nap when we're out. But I brought along his sling/carrier thing, and was hoping that he'd go to sleep in it. Which he did, but only for about 10 minutes at a time. Hubs took him out the the car in the afternoon, hoping that maybe he'd get him to sleep in there (because it'd be quiet, but don't worry, hubs would be with him the whole time, and we'd have the window's rolled down a bit) but no dice. 

Finally, after a lot of no sleep, I was walking around the theater, looking at the other vendor's tables, with him in my arms tucked up against my neck. And he just drifted off. So I found a dark corner of the theater, and handed him off to hubs in hopes that he'd keep sleeping. And he did!   At first Hubs read a newspaper, but then eventually he dozed off too. 

Awwwwwww....

Oh, and I wanted to tell you about one of the other vendors there. Her stuff was called "Priya Means Love". She makes Organic Botanical Bodycare items. You know how I love lotions and creams and stuff. I bought some of her Dream Salve which smells SO GOOD (orange blossom, citrus and lavender) that I'm wearing it as perfume. I haven't worn perfume in awhile, as synthetic scents are freaking me out (toxic chemicals etc.) so this is such a great find for me. It smells amazing and I just rub a bit on my neck and wrist and I smell so good I can't get enough of myself! I also recommend the Ginger Mint Foot Soother. It smelled great as well. I did stop myself from taking off my socks and smearing some on my feet though. Its good to have boundaries.

You may be wondering where the Little Dude was all day. Well, that's another first for us. When we need him to be babysat, we almost always leave him with my mom and dad. He's as at home at their place as he is at ours, and they know each other so well that its a no-brainer. But on Saturday they were busy so we had to find another option. Luckily a couple of our good friends live in Toronto, so we brought him by their place to stay for the day. He knows them, as they come up to where we live and visit from time to time, but he doesn't know then as well as he knows my parents. We all wanted it to go well, so we went over early so we'd have a little bit of time to hang out and ease him into the situation. He was a little clingy, but they have cats and that was definitely enticing to him. Then they suggested a walk to the park and he was totally down for that. We left and they headed off to the park. We called a couple of hours later and he was having a grand old time. The park had a railroad track right next to it, which was a big hit. And then they all went back home to play with/harass the kitties some more. 

The day ended with them hosting us for dinner, which was lovely. After such a fun day, we had a hard time getting the Little Dude to leave! He was finally pried away from his new best friends and the kitties, with promises that they would all come up to our place for a visit again soon. Then we piled our little family into the car, and headed for home. After a brief bit of crying on the Baby's part, everyone calmed down and were fast asleep by the time we hit the highway. It was the perfect end to the day, driving home in the dusk with nothing by the sound of the rain on the windshield, and both the boys sweetly sleeping. It was one of those "everything's right with the world moments". And when we got home I had the pleasure of carrying my sleeping toddler in from the car in my arms. He's so active these days, constantly in motion, constantly talking (or yelling) that its rare to have a quiet moment with him, and it was just the loveliest thing to pick up his sleepy self, and lay him on his bed and take his shoes and hoodie off, his sweet warm body so malleable and heavy. He woke up just enough to put his arms around my neck and hug me before he fell asleep again. It was definitely the best moment of the day.

Comments

[Marcia Van Drunen]

Glad that went so well. And YAY for the babysitters! :)
I, too, do not wear perfume (neither I nor my hubby appreciate the whole thing much). What you found sounds lovely. I'm still not sure my hubs could handle it, but I like the idea!