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Baby and kids market

Saturday Sales

I think I’ve spoken in passing about Baby & Kids Markets in Australia. The ones in Canberra tend to be held bi-monthly at the Fitzroy Hall at Exhibition Park. For the curious, these markets sell mostly pre-loved baby and young children’s goods – anything from clothes, to prams, to toys, to books, to car seats, to electrical appliances, to cloth diapers…

Stalls are set up and hosted mostly by mothers who

  • had once upon a time walked into their new 4-bedroom home with their husband Before Children, and thought, “Phwoar! This place is freakin’ HUGE!”…. only to discover that children – and their clothes and paraphernalia – can and will take up half your house, despite your best intentions
  • have sworn off the whole pregnancy gig, having acquired their 2.4 children
  • have finally managed to sort through and part with all the clothes, shoes, toys, appliances and furniture that their offspring accumulated in 3 short years
  • envision their newfound space and giddily embarking on their My Home Looks Like Something Out Of Pinterest project, only to find that they…
  • …might make a small sum of money, but will run out and buy new things for their children anyway. Return to Square One.

For the consumer, the markets can be a treasure trove – especially for first-time mothers, since newborn clothes hardly get worn, much less get worn out. The first time Tony and I went together to shop for Arddun, we ended up with this.

I haven’t been to one in about a year, mostly because we’re fairly self-sufficient now and the last one I went to didn’t have that much clothes for Arddun’s age. It can be a bit hit-and-miss. Still, the MIL and I took a trip down yesterday with a rough list of items in our heads of things to get for Boy Blob.

Naturally, I emerged an hour later completely sidetracked, with loot for Arddun instead.

Things bought from Baby and Kids Market in November 2014
Clockwise from left: $1 brand new Grosby boots for 18-month old… and the only thing I bought for Boy Blob yesterday, $2 schoolbag for Arddun to use next year because current backpack is too small, brand new silver cardigan for $3, Pumpkin Patch cherry-printed bikini for $2, matching Pumpkin Patch swimming hat from stall next door for $1. Total outlay: $9

What can I say. I love a bargain.

TTT – Walking, Hunting, Ironing

1. Rounding the wagon

Ever since Arddun’s 20+ paces, it’s like she’s made a mental breakthrough with the whole OTHER use for legs, other than crawling. I won’t go so far as to say that she’s walking now, because she isn’t. She makes the occasional sneaky run for it from one chair to another when she thinks no one’s paying attention. And then she spends the rest of the time crawling.

Still… she’s standing a lot more now, and she’s figured out how absolutely fun it is to push her toy wagon around. Best part? After months of leaving a trail of destruction in her crawling wake, she now pushes her little wooden wagon around the house, picks random things up, and places them in her wagon. It’s like housekeeping, only 76cm high and unable to reverse properly without bashing furniture, skirting boards, and toes.

2. Finding the bargain

Cooking with mummyOh the Baby & Kids Market, oh how I adore thee. Thou melting pot of cheap books, clothes and toys, thou labyrinth of pre-loved goods and good-as-new designer baby clothes… Except this year, they were situated next to Erotica Lifestyles Expo 2012, which meant parking got doubly hard because the Erotica crowd preferred to park near the market and feign interest in bargain hunting, before doing the surreptitious walk of shame to the expo for the last 20 paces or so.

Whatever. I spent waaay too much money there, but came home with pretty awesome stash including a brand new mobile flat-pack high chair which I can clip to our kitchen bench, so Arddun can finally see how a traditional Nonya babi ponteh gets cooked Mommy Style.

3. Tackling the ironing

I loathe, loathe ironing. And now that I’m not working, I’m even less motivated to run a chunk of heated metal across clothes for hours on end. But this last week, Arddun’s discovered how FUN it is to help herself to my to-be-ironed pile of clothes by pulling a stack of them off my laundry basket to the floor, and then diving into them like a pile of autumn leaves, before making off with one or two articles in her wagon or on her determined little head.

And so I tackled the ironing this week. Got about 35 pieces done and am feeling mighty smug. There’s still a stack of un-ironed clothes stashed in the laundry basket, but at least they are out of sight and therefore, out of baby-diving range. I know you’re probably appalled that I even have that many clothes un-ironed, but I’m still mighty proud of myself. So there.

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