Consignment Sale Fun

I just love the big consignment sales! Wednesday we patronized the famed Northside Consignment Sale and were in line at the door at 5:00 p.m. when the sale opened to the public (after the pre-sale to sellers). The place was a zoo. No strollers around. Only babies allowed and only if they were in an infant carrier (like my Ergo). Women wore elbow pads to knock each other out of the way! Well, maybe not that last part, but it was almost that bad.

That is why I asked Chris to come with me. I knew I'd be travelling lean with only John on my back, my wallet, and an empty shopping bag. It was very helpful to have Chris there as a second pair of arms to carry what ended up being my gigantic cardboard box full of clothing and toys. That day after work some of the guys invited him out for a beer, but he replied that he couldn't go because he was doing something almost as much fun. You can imagine the laughter when Chris explained that he was going shopping for baby clothes at a consignment sale with his wife.

We ended up buying a good stash of 12- to 18-month clothing (as John is currently in 9-12 and 12-month clothing). I even scored the last pair of Robeez (the baby dino ones) for only $4 (and you mamas know that they sell for $30)! I was drawn to buy many toys for John, but I held myself back and focused on three excellent wooden toys: a shape-sorting cube, a shape-sorting Noah's Ark, and a neat riding toy that looks like a British bus and also contains shapes for sorting. Chris and I strongly prefer high-quality wooden toys. They last longer and simply look more pleasant when in a big pile on the living room floor. [Edit: Another reason to buy generally American- or European-made wooden toys is to avoid the prolific recalls of cheap, plastic toys made in China, often with high levels of toxic materials. We've had so many recalls of junky manufactured-in-China toys lately! See here.]

When we got home from the sale, my boy actually sat quietly in my lap to read his two new books, both books about animals that have touch-and-feel spots on each page (e.g., "feel the kittens' soft fur!"). I was amazed to see that he let me turn each page without grabbing the book out of my hands. Then I would touch the special spot on the page and ask, "Do you want to touch the kitten's yarn?" and he would gingerly reach out with his pointer finger extended and touch the special spot!

In another interesting sign of maturation, John is now starting to throw baby-sized fits when we take away some object of interest. The first time he did it, he actually dropped what he was playing with and burst into such ferocious tears that I was sure he had injured himself. He never cries that way otherwise. But Chris and I have witnessed John do this several times this week, so now we know he is crying over his lost toy. This is so interesting to me because it means he now has enough short-term memory to know that he had a certain toy and to remember the toy, knowing that he witnessed mama hide it somewhere. Plus he has desire for the toy that remains in him even when the toy is gone. I will remain impressed with John's new cognitive development as long as I can because otherwise it is just plain annoying!