Having fun at Value Village

by Brie One weekday morning I headed to the Value Village on Clyde with both kids. I thought it would be a fun outing on a cold day. And it was!

I don't particularly like going shopping with the kids. They want to touch everything. They want to buy everything. Most shopping trips leave me exhausted from saying "no". Shopping at Value Village was a much nicer experience because, given the prices, I am more likely to say "yes, we can buy that".

I told the kids they could each spend $5 on our Value Village shopping trip. The amount didn't mean much to my two and half year old but the idea that he got to leave the store with something did. My four year old, though, was checking with me to find out how much all the items she wanted to buy cost. And she wanted to buy a lot.

It was neat watching the different shopping styles of the kids. The girl picked up and put down at least half a dozen items: shoes, toys, jewelry, dresses. She was interested in everything. Every time she picked up something new I reminded her that she only had $5 to spend. Finally she narrowed it down to a fancy white dress that will eventually be added to our dress up clothes. She wore it straight for two days after she bought it, so it was money well spent.

The boy wasn't really interested in anything until he found the badminton rackets. He got excited about using them to play tennis at the park in the summer. The three rackets cost under $5 and he has already been trying to enlist us in playing tennis in the hallway.

I had a great time at Value Village too. I did have to watch the kids around the more delicate and breakable items but I didn't feel the need to hover around them like I would in a more expensive store.

Our last stop in the store was the book section. The kids spent a good 20 minutes reading books while I rifled through the shelves looking for anything of interest to add to our collection. At $1 a book for kids' books it was hard to resist. Needless to say we walked out with a pile.

Do you go second-hand shopping with your kids? And who loves it best: you or the kids?

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.

A Gym Tale: A community, not just a place to play

 by Lara Our relationship with A Gym Tale began three years ago at the end of cold and flu season. Stinky Monkey was just 2 months corrected age (4 months chronological) and I was finally going to be allowed out in public with him. I needed to find other moms and other babies to socialize with after a long, snowy winter of hospital stays and doctors appointments. Regardless of Stinky Monkey's prognosis I was determined to give him the best life with the most experience.   During an online search I found A Gym Tale, at the time it was just a few doors away from our Pediatrician's office. They had a program entitled "New Magic" for babies 3-10 months. I thought I would call and see if I could enroll for the end of the Spring session or at least pay per visit. I spoke with Lindsay, the owner, and explained my situation and the need for as germ-free environment as I can possibly get with little children. She reassured me about their policies and was great about prorating our enrollment. The class was small, the moms were welcoming and Stinky Monkey and I were quickly embraced into our new community of mom's and babes in Barrhaven. Songs, rhymes, learning and development activities, sensory activities and allowing babies to explore their new world in a safe, kid friendly environment. This was my first experience as a mommy, a non-NICU mommy, and A Gym Tale helped us to build bonds and friendships in Barrhaven.

  Three years on we have done MANY an organized playgroup with A Gym Tale, Stinky Monkey attended all levels of groups, some with me, some with The Husband and some with Nana...he's finally reached the age where its time to just go and play in the pirate ship and castle. He's even mastered the "Big" slide (the slide I won't go down). Bella Bear started the classes at 2 months old and she has made her own friends now in her groups and enjoys every minute of the time in class and enjoys the under 3 play area when Stinky Monkey is enjoying the slides and larger structure.

  Lindsay has become part of our family, she always takes an interest in the kids she see in her groups. She engages the kids and the parents, offers helpful tips and reassures those of us with little ones who don't always want to participate in the groups that no its not a developmental issue, he's just 2!

What I appreciate the most about Lindsay and her business partner/husband Alan is that they are following their passion and are committed to making the best memories for kids and their families in a positive and rich learning environment. Whether a special event scheduled on Father's Day or creating a safe space where parents feel comfortable dropping their kids (3 and up) for a fun Friday night, offering preschool, before and after-school care, summer camps, or participating in the Barrhaven Santa Claus Parade or helping our little people celebrate their birthdays. Every child is important to them, every child's experience is considered a priority.

  To this end A Gym Tale is really committed to creating a community for parents in Barrhaven and beyond, creating memories, enriching learning and helping families sharing parenting experience. This commitment has now expanded to just moms too! Lindsay has recently started a monthly Moms night of scrapbooking at the centre and it is great to get together with other Moms (without our babes) and enjoy stories, pictures, memories and parenting advice.   Visit a Gym Tale in Barrhaven or follow their blog, details at www.agymtale.com.

Lara is mom to Stinky Monkey (3) and Bella Bear (1).  She enjoys making the best memories with her active cardiac preschooler and a healthy heart toddler.  Lara also works, volunteers, shops (way too much), and is new to blogging at www.parentingwithheart.blogspot.com

Polar bears and penguins, oh my!

by Zach My kids love the Canadian Museum of Nature, but there's been a distressing new development: as they get more familiar with the place, they're making their way through the exhibitions faster and faster. One day a couple of weeks ago we had flown through the Blue Water, Fossil, and Mammal galleries, and I was wondering if we were going to finish early, and how exactly I would keep things afloat for the rest of the afternoon.   Then, on the third floor, we bumped into a sign in front of the Special Exhibition gallery that stopped the kids cold. This wasn't any old foam board-in-Plexiglas sign. It was a mini-display in itself, with a large, rotating model of the earth slowly turning over and over. Sitting on the south pole was an oversized penguin, and on the north pole was a polar bear. We had found the new temporary exhibition, Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bears to Penguins.   After convincing the kids not to try wrenching the penguin and polar bear off the globe, we made our way in. The first thing that greeted us was a life-sized polar bear (a relative of the one in the Mammal gallery?), surrounded by several other interactive displays and games. The kids were a bit nervous of this new polar bear, but quickly moved past, and started exploring. And what a lot there was to explore.   The highlight of the exhibition was probably the penguin slide, in one of the back corners of the exhibition. It's a low, gently-sloped ramp, shaped like a big chunk of ice hauled up from the Antarctic. The really adorable part, however, is the many penguin costumes stored on benches to the side. The idea is for the kids to dress up as penguins and slide down the ramp on their bellies, using the soft fabric of the costumes to go a touch faster than they otherwise would.   The first time we went, the kids were game for the costumes, and I bitterly regretted not having my camera as they waddled around the exhibition, pretending to be penguins. I also tried not to think about how often the costumes might, or might not, get washed.   We've had a couple of visits since, and my kids, like most others, don't really attempt the costumes anymore, but just start launching themselves down the slide, running back, and doing it again in this kind of perpetual motion machine thing that young kids are capable of. You can really see the different parenting styles coming out in these kinds of situations; do the parents wander off and look at other displays? Do they hover (like me)? Do they let the kids climb directly back up the slide, or do they have to go around? Note there's no attendant here, and no posted rules, so it's something of a Darwinian playground.   There's a whole lot else to see, too. There's a replica of the kind of scale that scientists use to weigh polar bears, and that visitors can use to see how their weight matches up to that of polar bears at different ages (there's no numbers, just a chart). The kids together weigh about as much as a six-month old polar bear cub, while I'm the equivalent of a remarkably mature bear. Yay.   There's loads more to see and do, including a mini-den for kids to crawl into, a penguin-chick feeding game (with a guilt-inducing message when you don't manage to feed the chicks), a replica of the hut used by early explorers of the Antarctic, and several video displays describing the animals and geography of the two poles. At least I think that's what they do, as the kids tend to run by videos of scientists talking, however passionate they are about their work.   The exhibition began way back on January 28, and is only open until April 10. If you want to check it out, head out there soon.   If you've seen the exhibition, what did you think? And, what are yours and your kids' favourite sections of the Museum of Nature?

Zach is a dad to a four year old girl and two year old boy. He sometimes blogs. He is often blogged about by his wife over at Capital Mom.

Tobogganing. Is. Awesome.

by Zach  Our two year old boy clung to me, weeping. "It's okay," I said. "I'm going to go on the tobbogan with your sister, okay? You can wait up here with your grandpa."   "No!" he said, and held on tighter. "Okay," I said, "alright." His four year old sister was sitting patiently at the front of the toboggan, ready to tip over the edge of the tiny, tiny hill. I tried to think of some way to compromise.   "Do you want to sit on my lap?" I suggested, not for a second thinking he'd accept that. "Yeah," he said. He wasn't happy, but apparently preferred to think that at least we would all go to our doom together.   I folded my legs and sat him down on my lap, held on tightly, and pushed off.   On the way down, he giggled. "Again!" he yelled when we slid to a stop. So we did, again, and again, and again.   I had high hopes at the beginning of the winter for tobogganing, but I'm a little embarrassed to say that last weekend was only the second time we'd gone tobogganing. The first time amounted to a kind of warm up, with the girl agreeing to watch me slide down a miniscule hill on the toboggan by myself. She laughed, but didn't particularly want to participate. The boy choose to sit in the stroller, out of the wind, and watch us skeptically.   This second round, though, was an enormous success. The girl hopped right on our toboggan that we had bought at a garage sale, probably around five years ago, ready to hurl herself down whatever hill might be closest. Though the boy had been excited when I suggested tobogganing, when he actually saw what it involved, he decided this really was not a good idea after all. However, I think to everyone's relief, he eventually came around and thoroughly enjoyed himself.   We were at Patterson Creek, at Bank Street just south of Patterson Avenue. The former creek bed sits a few feet below the level of the surrounding roads, which means that the park area is almost entirely ringed by toboggan hills perfect for the four year old-ish age group. The area is popular, and I've often seen the corner of the park by Patterson Avenue and Bank Street overrun by families and various snow-sliding devices.   The large amount of space also means that a four-year old can move restlessly around the edges of the park, picking and choosing new places to slide down. There's plenty of street parking, and the Glebe is just a short ways south for hot chocolates and other snacks to bolster little sledders.   Of course, there are loads more hills in Ottawa, and I look forward to dragging the kids to as many as they will tolerate as they get older ... or possibly they'll be the ones dragging me. The city of Ottawa has put together a great list of the hills, which includes details like nearby parking, some of the features of the hills themselves, and potential hazards.   What has your experience been with tobogganing in Ottawa? Do you have a favourite hill, especially for a particular age range? When did you start with your kids, and what were their reactions?

Zach is a dad to a four year old girl and two year old boy. He sometimes blogs. He is often blogged about by his wife over at Capital Mom.

Dining with kids at the Elgin Street Diner

by Brie Once upon a time I was a food snob. I loved good food. I liked to eat in nice restaurants, you know, with tablecloths. I hated to pay for bad food. Then I had kids. Now I am a food snob of a different kind.

We don't go out often to eat with the kids. When we do, given the frantic nature of the meal, there are certain things that we look for in a restaurant. Luckily we can find everything we are looking for at the Elgin Street Dinner.

Here are my top 5 reasons that the Elgin Street Diner is a great restaurant for kids.

1. The food comes fast Diners are the perfect choice for kids because the food is fast to come out from the kitchen. In fact I sometimes feel like I am waiting longer for the food to cool enough for the kids to eat it then I am for it to be brought to the table.

2. Distractions are plentiful The crayons and place mats for colouring that are handed out to all the kids when they arrive help to pass the time while you wait for the food. We usually bring some books with us too. If neither of those interest your kids you can probably keep them entertained for awhile watching all the people coming and going. A diner is perfect for people watching.

3. The servers are used to kids I am always thankful that the servers are used to kids. They know to bring extra napkins. They understand when we ask for the bill half way through the meal. They don't even look surprised when a glass of milk gets spilled. I am pretty sure they have seen it all at the Elgin Street Diner and that dinner with my two kids isn't the worst of it.

4. There is something on the menu your kids will eat Elgin Street Diner has an extensive menu, and with all day breakfast you can't really go wrong, but our kids are always happy to order off the kids' menu. In fact they always order the same thing. My 4 year old daughter gets the grilled cheese sandwich and my 2 year old son gets the macaroni and cheese. Once they totally threw me for a loop by switching their orders. Thankfully once the dishes arrived they decided to switch again and the order of the universe was restored. Phew, they had me going for awhile there.

5. It's loud. My kids are loud. They aren't even trying to be, they just are. I really, really appreciate being able to take them to eat somewhere where the noises from the kitchen and other patrons are as loud as they are. It means that instead of spending the whole meal being the mom that says "shhh" I get to actually eat my food.

The Elgin Street Diner is definitely an Ottawa institution.If you haven't been there since a 4am trip for poutine after a late night at the bars, I think it is time you stopped by. With the kids.

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.