Did we meet you at Kids CBC Days?

Does your child love Bo on the Go? Cat in the Hat? How about Super Why? momstown kids love these characters featured on Kids CBC and were thrilled to meet so many Toronto moms and dads at the recent Kids CBC Days. Did we meet you at the CBC Building on Front Street for the annual free event?

Due to momstown's strong commitment to early literacy, we were paired up the super readers in Super Why! Together we created a fabulous alphabet craft, W is for Watermelon. Similar to the letters that we create in our momstown Alphabet Play program, it was a real hit with parents and kids alike! We made 900 Watermelons over 2 days in the atrium of the CBC Building.

 Even more exciting is our momstown partnership with Kids CBC. Very shortly you will begin to see fabulous momstown crafts and activities on the soon-to-be relaunched Kids CBC site. We participated in the pre-launch kick off and had the chance to have a special picnic with the media (and their kids) along with our super Kids CBC Friends Mamam Yamma and Patty. We;re very excited to be working with the team at Kids CBC as we share very similar community centric values, a love of early learning and fun!

Baby Basics program perfect for new Toronto moms

Baby Charlotte with Mommy at Baby Basics Toronto West

Everyone says the first early months are such a beautiful time to cherish and enjoy your child. Which is true. But it's also SO hard!!! momstown's weekly Baby Basics program is set up for new moms with babies 0-12 months to come on out to learn from one another, from our biweekly speakers, but mostly from one another.

It's a chance to engage with other exhausted moms. Lay your baby down next to another one his or her own age and really connect with the other moms. We talk, we laugh, sometimes we cry. Baby Basics helps build our momstown community and we hope you'll come out to meet other local moms.

We alternate the weeks between speakers and "Baby Picassos" activities *with loads of time always built in for chatting!).

Our favourite 3 baby crafts:
1. Baby Footprint - a simple keepsake
2. Baby's first "Painting" with Oatmeal!
3. Baby Robin footprints

For other tips on how to make art with babies, check out this great article by momstown Hamilton!

Hope to see you soon at Baby Basics! To join - just register here for you free trial membership, then once you decide momstown is for you, it's JUST $45/year and all programs are included!

momstown's Six Program Pillars: Our Program Foundation

Have you heard about momstown's Six Program Pillars?

We’ve picked the very best programs running from our many chapters and created places for them in every momstown across Canada.  Read all about it here.  Our Toronto community is looking forward to implementing these great programs.  Watch the calendar for upcoming events!

Mom's Night Out - MARTINI NIGHT

This past Saturday a few of us headed out "on the Town" for our first ever Martini Night! It was a fantastic time and even though we spent some of the time talking about our children, we also spent time just talking as women! It was wonderful and refreshing.


Thank you to On the Rocks located in the Kingsway; we had a few drinks that we quite enjoyed! All of us are looking forward to the next Mom's night out Next month! Check out the location and details in our calendar.


If you are interested in joining us, sign up for your free trial today.

Living in the City with Kids

Some people would say that Bloorwest/High Park is not living in the city but it is. To get downtown it takes 15 minutes. Ok there is a caveat, it depends on time of day and if it's rush hour of course! Nevertheless, Bloorwest is downtown living with a suburban feel. I look out my window and don't see skyscrapers but houses, schools, parks, families and lots of kids.


I guess this is why I am so freaked out that there is a drug dealer that lives right on my street. The police are well aware of him and keep a watchful eye; the neighbors told me that he has gone away to jail for a few summers but he keeps on coming back. I definitely question the judicial system if a drug dealer is set free in a community filled with vulnerable kids and lots of schools. 


My neighbors and I have discussed the situation on many an occasion, all of us frequenting the parks that are in the area, including the school yards. 


We've all seen evidence of drugs in the schools via the playground litter. It scares the heck out of me to think that my children will be going to these schools and already play in these playgrounds. This is where I am reminded that I live in the city. That and I see some of the kids from the high schools making their way to the home of the drug dealer.


I'm filled with questions - will that be my child one day? Will that be someone else's child that is attending the party that my child is going to?


How do you remove your child's exposure to the accessibility of drugs? When do you start to teach them about drugs? 


I'm not sure I have the answer to all these questions but only hope that with the support of friends, the moms within momstown and family, I will be able to manage this challenge when it comes my way. 

Clutter and my life!

I'm sure that I am the not only one that feels this way, but I feel like I am constantly fighting clutter. Clutter in the closets, all the rooms, the basement (thats a separate story), the kitchen, oye the kitchen.

As I sit on my laptop looking at the kitchen - this is where I decide to set up work, looking at the clutter! - and I realize, I don't use that pot, that bowl, that serving dish, that vase... A ton of items cluttering the top-exposed shelves of my kitchen.

What to do with them? Some of them are gifts from my wedding, some Christmas gifts, others anniversary gifts. Does that mean that I am obligated to keep them? Or is it OK to put them in our garage sale box or to charity?

What are the rules on managing gifts that are really not used? I've surfed the internet to see what other women do, but I'm still undecided. Mostly because I know that as soon as I decide, ok this can go then, I'll have some dinner with the people that gave the gift and they'll mention the lovely serving platter they gave me... 

Anyone have that happen to them? What do/did you do?

With the new baby coming, I feel like I am on this, get it out of my house if its not used kick, but maybe there are somethings that are worth making space for, despite the clutter feel to them....

Maybe its just pregnancy crazy-make room for baby Clutter-brain!

All ages playgroup - our theme was hats!

momstown Toronto met up this morning for some fun with Hats and Edible Crafts. The kids met with a Happy New Year hello and then wanted to jump right into making our crafts, singing some songs and reading some stories about Hats.

We started with Circle time where we read the book, "The Hat" by Holly Keller, then we had a sing-a-long about wearing hats!

The kids were pretty excited for our edible portion of craft time which was an Edible "Cat in the Hat" snack! (Ritz cracker as the base, whip cream, red gummy lifesaver x 3 layers) Thank you to momstown Kitchener-Waterloo for that craft! They were made, then eaten pretty quickly!

We also spent some time learning about different hats where w e colored the hats in the picture and labeled them as well.

Next the kids gathered together for a game of Hat Bean bag toss. Each child had a turn tossing bean bags into the different hats on the Floor. We had a cowboy hat, a baseball cap and a Safari hat! Lastly, we had some free play with the toys and stuffed animals.

Such fun!
If you would like to join us, sign up here for your free trial. We would love to have you here.

Mommy's Book Club

We had our First book club meeting this month and what a great time with all the moms. We were discussing Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda and we all agreed it was FANTASTIC!

Well done for a first novel!! We highly recommend this for anyone looking for something stimulating to read. It revealed alot about ourselves, cultural differences and it stimulated so many feelings for us.

Join us next month for; we'll be reading Jodi Picoult's Plain Truth.