What's on the menu baby?

For those that know me well... you know I talk endlessly about giving up our life in the big city, for a simpler and more family focused life back in the small town I grew up. Almonte. For those that don't, take my word for it... in the DECADE I have spent in Toronto, I have "talked" about it non-stop. And having a baby as you can imagine, has added a lot of fuel to that conversation.

I have a love/hate relationship with Toronto. I always have. After 10 years living in just about every neighborhood in this city, I can tell you that I love EVERYTHING about Toronto with the exception of;  (1) my family is not here, (2) many of my close friends are not here, (3) house and property prices are ridiculous, (4) this city I am quite sure coined the term "rat race", and  (5) we never get any snow in the winter. And for me there is absolutely no point to winter without snow. Oh, (6) the crime kinda sucks here too.

What has taken me a bit by surprise though,  is that in the last several months on mat leave, I have actually grown to love Toronto MORE. A notion I would have told you was absolutely CRAZY back in my super lonely early days of being a new mom. The point is, Toronto has an ENORMOUS amount to offer new parents.  There are activities to do with babies and children all over this city and a lot of it is free. There are hits and misses, but for a mom that has no family here and had no mommy friends in those early days, Toronto and all it has to offer literally has saved my mommy life.  Ok, a bit dramatic eh?  It has at least saved my sanity. That I am sure of.

So this weekend, I found another great Toronto Mommy resource to add to the list. Did you know there are actually restaurants in Toronto that offer homemade organic pureed baby food on their menu?  Rory is 6 months old and eating solids, and I can actually order him his own MEAL?  Too much fun!! And in the case of this weekend, a bit of lifesaver.  We had traveled to the junction to visit with friends and their new baby and explored a bit after we left, all of the sudden we were starving. So I remembered a cute organic eatery in the area I had once been too and off we went to The Beet Organic Cafe.  We sat down to eat and I realized that Rory was about to go into a full melt down if we didn't feed him too. That's when I started scanning the menu for anything I might be able to mash and feed him. To our delight their baby menu answered my panic...

Baby Beet (Vegan) (Wheat-Free) (Gluten-Free) $2
Baby-sized portion of homemade organic puree
Apple, avocado, banana, sweet potato, brown rice


Amazing. Rory devoured the apple and sweet potato. Check this place out...they also have a super cozy changing room and highchairs available for use.

I heart places that do what they can to make things easy for parents. You know, so we can feel like normal human beings out for a weekend brunch.