Birth and Baby Fair

On Saturday, Rachel and I had a Stroller Strides booth with our fellow Paso franchisee at the Birth and Baby Resource Network's annual fair. In addition to our normal information-giving, we helped run their first Diaper Derby and Toddler run.

Chad and Joseph drove down with me to take advantage of a day in SLO. We had a great time wandering around the booths. Joseph was able to do obstacle courses set up by a local gymnastics group, watch dancers, listen to a great kiddie band, check out skulls and feathers at a local wildlife school's booth and, this is important, explore a fire truck.

No matter how many times we take him to see a fire truck, Joseph can't get enough. We were lucky to have a very patient, very nice young firefighter give Joseph the "tour". How patient was he?

"What's this?"

"That's an oxygen tank. It helps us breath."

"Why?"

"Because there is a lot of smoke at fires and it's not good for you."

"Why?"

"Because it makes your lungs yucky."

"Why?"

"Because the fire burns lots of materials."

"Why?"

"Because it's hot."

"Oh."

This went on for every single item on the truck. As we left, I thanked the firefighter for his patience and he just shrugged it off. "The kid's curious. Nothing wrong with that."

After lunch, Joseph and Chad went over to Rachel's house for Joseph to take a nap. The fair ended at 4, but really should have ended a couple of hours earlier. For the last two hours, I talked to one interested mommy-to-be and one interesting man.

A man walked up to our booth. He looked shabbily debonair wearing white jeans, sandals, a flowing black and white woman's blouse, a fedora and a bicycle chain necklace. He was in his sixties and proceeded to have a one sided, stream of conscience conversation with me that lasted - no joke - a half hour.

Highlights of the conversation:

He lives with his sister who has 20 cats and is working on a way to chemically heat feces to a point where the smell goes away. If he's able to accomplish this, he'll patent it and become a millionaire.

He thinks there should be a core movie program similar to the CORE reading program. He'd teach it and help kids understand the subtleties of Stripes.

He used to be a ballroom dancer. His specialty was the tango. Even now, when he hears music, he feels a compulsion to dance.

He likes women. They're never mean to him. In fact, he likes them so much, he wears women's clothing - like his jeans and blouse - and women's underwear.

At that point, I interrupted him and told him that was a bit too much information. He smiled and wandered off to pick snapdragons at the edge of the sidewalk.

I broke down our portion of the booth - Rachel having left a couple hours earlier to go to work - and waited for Chad to pick me up. Overall, it was a fun, exhausting day.