At each of our events, the Vancouver Island Baby Fair partners with a local charity to benefit from fundraising through donations at the stroller parking, face painting, and the photo contest. For the upcoming Victoria fair on September 25 & 26, 2010, we have chosen the Greater Victoria Down Syndrome Society. The following post was contributed by the GVDSS.
The Greater Victoria Down Syndrome Society is thrilled to be this year’s charity of choice for the Baby Fair! We are very excited to be able to advocate for our wonderful members, raise awareness about Down syndrome, and share in the joy and excitement of the Baby Fair with all of you!
This year we will have some art cards for sale at the booth. The purpose of the art cards is to raise awareness about the GVDSS, while at the same time raise money to help support one of our very special programs: Music Therapy, which is run in collaboration with Dr. Johanne Brodeur at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.
On a Personal Note: Our Story
When our son Aidan came into our lives, many people said, “God gives these kids to special families.” I didn’t contradict them, but I did think they had it backwards. I felt very certain that Aidan would make us live a better life. Now, four years later, I stand by that notion.
Aidan reminds us not to take life for granted. He reminds us to celebrate life, give thanks for all that we’ve got, and not to sweat the small stuff. Our family and friends rally around Aidan.
We celebrate each of his accomplishments – like walking at three years of age; trying to go potty; using sign language to communicate with us; putting words together; learning to drink from a straw; doing fingerplays and action songs; kicking a soccer ball; cheering for his preschool teacher at circle time; and blowing a kiss to the check-out lady.
Since Aidan’s birth, I’ve had an opportunity to meet a lot of people who have a person with Down syndrome in their life. I’m reminded that our children are all unique, and all special. They are not cookie-cut outs of each other – they are as individual as you and me. In each of those conversations, one thing has been consistent: not one of us would trade our children for anything; we love them just the way they are.
Advance tickets to the upcoming Vancouver Island Baby Fair on Sept. 25 & 26 in Victoria are now on sale at several locations! There are a limited number of advance tickets available for just $5 for a weekend pass (at the door, it’s $7/day or $8/weekend).
One of the coolest things we’ve discovered lately as parents of a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old is a magazine made just for them – Chirp! Chirp is a magazine especially for 3-6 year-olds.
Our 6-year-old just loves reading and devours his copy of Chirp every month when it arrives in the mail. Our family likes it so much, we wanted to share!
In our August e-Newsletter (coming to an inbox near you on Friday!) we’re giving away 5 Owlkids prize packages – each one includes a 6-issue subscription to Chirp, sample magazines, activity pages, a poster map of Canada, stickers, bookmarks, and a t-shirt (approx $35 value)!
If you don’t already subscribe to our e-Newsletter, sign up now to get in on the action! Only current subscribers of the Inside the Pea Pod e-Newsletter will be eligible to win. You can fill out the form in the right-hand column here on the blog, or follow this link.
More about Chirp
Chirp is a unique magazine for children ages 3 to 6. Designed for preschoolers and beginner readers, each issue is bursting with puzzles, crafts, games, rhymes and read-out-loud stories. Chirp is a perfect way to introduce your children to the joy of reading and learning!
Readers will enjoy every issue jam-packed with:
Well-loved Robbie & Emily stories and Chirp comic strip
Age-appropriate puzzles, connect-the-dots, mazes and simple board games in Puzzles and Fun
Special Chirp cut-out for readers to make and play with
Chirp Crafts, even the littlest hands can master
Fascinating facts about animals in Amazing Animal
Original fiction and artwork by well-loved children’s authors and illustrators in Rhyme Time and Let’s Read
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomas Balmes, Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world. Joyfully capturing on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all – from birth to first steps.
Doors open at 6:30pm. The film begins at 7pm – tickets at the door.
There will be a panel discussion after the show and prize giveaways too!
The new CIBC Westshore Banking Centre is returning as an exhibitor to the upcoming Baby Fair. They joined us last year right after they opened their doors to the public, and now they’re celebrating their first birthday.
And this branch knows how to throw a party!!
Come out and celebrate CIBC Westshore Banking Centre’s 1st year anniversary!
Bring the family down to enjoy a BBQ, bouncy castles, face painting, ice cream and cake, loot bags, massages for the parents, live music by Chikoro Marimba, and other family fun activities. The fun goes from 10am to 2pm this Saturday, July 24 at 550-2945 Jacklin Road (by Superstore).
The big moment so many wait for after every Baby Fair is finally here!
Here are the winners of the 2010 Nanaimo Photo Contest…
0-24 month old category: Aislynn. 2-6 year old category: Solace
Both Aislynn and Solace’s families win a $300 prize package including a portrait session, 11×14 enlargement & 10 5×7 digital negatives from SeaSide Studios.
We are often asked how we pick the winners, and we always try to emphasize that it is not a “cutest baby” contest. We look for interesting photographs where the photographer has captured a special look or expression of the child. Check out some of the past faces of the Vancouver Island Baby Fair.
Thank you to all the families who entered their little ones into the photo contest! All families who entered receive a free 5×7 print which is available for pickup now at Huckleberry Baby Shop in Nanaimo.
Through the Photo Contest, face painting and stroller parking we have raised more than $1350 for Haven Society. Thank You also to London Drugs at Nanaimo North Town Centre for providing the 5×7 prints. We are donating that cost savings back to Haven Society.
“The first day after my birth,” says the Dalai Lama, “immediately I learned, I experienced mother’s sort of compassion. That is I think the most important part of building a healthy family and that means healthy humanity.”
Guest post written by Carmen Markowski, Discovery Toys Team Leader
If we took a poll of everyone in North American age fifty years and younger, I wonder what percentage of people have played with Lego at some point in their life? I’m going to guess it’s somewhere between 85-95%. I think it’s safe to say, most of us have had some experience with building toys. My own brothers had a huge box of it and I can remember being around nine years old when, my little brother and I would sit for hours creating fantastic structures. It’s pretty easy to see the benefits a building toy can offer a child…fine motor skills, problem solving, creativity, cooperation (especially when you have to share the building pieces!). However, what does that mean in the day-to-day life of a child?
I feel like I understand so much more about the perks of building toys now that I’ve seen my own son go through his early years. Luke had very busy hands as a toddler, so playing with building toys was a great release for him and a good break for me. It meant he wasn’t tearing my house apart! His first building toy was simple wooden blocks. Playing with the blocks meant he had to focus his attention for several minutes in order to complete the task of creating a structure. He was only two years old, but he definitely needed practice in this area! Building blocks were just the beginning to his career as a builder. I found he enjoyed many different building sets from ages 2-5 and spend a good portion of his play time building.
I must admit, I had a concern about Luke during those early years. Although he would sit and color once in awhile, I was hard pressed to get Luke to have an interest in writing words or printing letters. The school teacher side of me imagined my children having lots of experience in writing before entering school and unfortunately this just wasn’t the case for Luke.
Luke surprised me in his kindergarten year. His printing: neat, well-formed letters. Writing did not bring any stress to him because he found it easy! He was good at it and he enjoyed it. Coloring: he pressed hard and worked within the lines. Could it be, he was a natural in these areas? That’s always a possibility. The teacher side of me says, for a child to have some skill in writing and coloring upon entering school, they would have had lots of experience at home with writing and coloring OR doing some other activities which developed the child’s fine motor skills. Well, we know which route Luke took!
So building toys…yes, they develop fine motor skills, offer problem-solving experiences, opportunities for creativity and cooperation. They’ll also help a child focus their attention on an activity for an extended period. And should your preschooler be waiving off the pencils and crayons, it could help them develop the skills they need for printing/writing. A skill they will be expected to develop quickly upon entering our school system. Thank goodness for toys!
Every so often it’s a good thing to pause and tell our loved ones how we feel. This is all about Mike, my husband and father of our two kids and a whole bunch of reasons why I think he’s an awesome dad and husband.
It started long, long ago before we had kids, before we were married, about 15 years ago when I convinced you that we should leave our jobs and go on a road trip across Canada and the northern United States in your crappy K-car. It was on that trip, somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania that I turned to you while you were driving and said, “I wanna have your baby some day.”
Years later, after loads of crazy adventures & experiences I realized that you were truly my rock. My mom died. Your patience and unwaivering devotion and support during my epic grieving…. I knew you were a keeper.
Then we decided to multiply. And you came to 100% of my prenatal appointments and you supported my desire to have a homebirth with midwives and you supported my wish to have a doula present. You did the research. You read the books. Knowing that while this was the birth of OUR child, this was MY body’s experience and my deep, deep desire to envelope the birthing room with positivity and trust in my ability to give birth. Thank you for helping to make that possible- twice.
Then when breastfeeding really sucked for a while there, you stayed by me, supporting me in my wish to breastfeed our baby. You knew I could do it, even when I wanted to hand you the baby and run far, far away, yelling, “Good luck with that!”
So I’d like to thank you, for putting family first, for taking night time wake-up calls from the kids (unless breastfeeding is required or there’s vomit involved- those are my jobs) for taking time off work to help me prevent post partum depression the second time around, for reading to the kids every day, for playing road hockey with our son when you’d rather be vegging on the couch after work, for being a human trampoline for hours on end with our two little monkeys and for wearing a feather boa if that is what our daughter requires of you.
We would love to send out a BIG thank you to all the exhibitors, presenters, children’s performers-Will Stroet and Music With Marnie & the families who participated in the Vancouver Island Baby Fair this past weekend in Nanaimo, BC!
A huge congratulations go to Tara Smith from Campbell River BC, winner of the Expecting Parent Grand Prize and also Congrats to Maureen Luney, a soon to be grandma from Victoria, BC who won the New Parent Grand Prize! Each prize was valued over $1300 with contributions from several of our exhibitors.
Check back for info on the Photo Contest! Winners will be announced in early July!
If you missed the fair please take a look at our exhibitor list or mark the date in your calendar of our next Vancouver Island Baby Fair which takes place September 25 & 26 at Pearkes Arena in Victoria BC.
