Did any of you here in Oman go to the Mommy & Me exhibition in Noor Plaza yesterday? We did and we picked up a lot of great stuff, helpful info and most importantly, our son had a fabulous time! 
The organizers were very wise to set up all kinds of play stations for kids to draw, play, think, make music, learn and enjoy their time at the exhibition!
This is an example of one of many tables set up at Mommy & Me. Zainab, on the left, runs a company called 99% which sells stickers, toys made of paper that kids can color (comes with markers!) and other products. www.talbatk.com
There are all kinds of educational models at the exhibition like this doll to explain to new mothers how to feed a newborn and the benefits of breastfeeding.
A sad reminder (from BMV) of just how many parents in Oman do not have child seats or insist that their children wear seatbelts. I hope that such exhibitions as Mommy & Me will slowly educate the population and make them take the safety of their children more seriously.
Bread talk is in full force at the exhibition with a yummy display of some of their fancy cakes. My wife was sure to buy a few things from this display! 
One example of Breadtalk’s cakes – Circus Train Cake for 36 rials.
For all you coffee lovers out there, Second Cup is at the exhibition.
There is so much to see and do in the exhibition. It’s not only for parents of newborn babies either. There are plenty of kindergartens and playgroups that are advertising and available to answer the questions of parents of older kids as well. You really have to start them young. Some of these playgroups accept children as young as 14 months old! If you wait too late to enter your kids in some educational group in Muscat at ages 3 1/2 or 4 they may get left behind!
This is Marianne, the smallprint franchise owner in Oman. She specializes in the cutest souvenir gifts in which she can place the fingerprint of your baby (or even handprint at 4 months old or less) on silver jewelry as a keepsake. She works out of her home and can even travel to your house anywhere in Muscat to have it done.
Check out the website for more info: www.smallp.com (email: marianne.olsgaard@smallprint.com ) We’re thinking of getting some jewelry with our newborn’s fingerprint on it when she arrives in mid April, God willing.
Expat Woman (www.expatwoman.com ) is a great resource for anyone living in the Middle East. Check it out for yourself and see why I’ve added it to the blogroll. Expat Woman is the online partner of Mommy & Me. A couple of other online resources you may want to check out are: www.MuscatMoms.com and www.pregnantinoman.com .
Well, I’ll end this post back at the beginning – the entrance to the Exhibition in Al Noor Hall. The gentleman seated there is none other than Oman’s famous blogger/twitterer (what do you call someone who tweets exactly?!), Muscati! His is the twitter account to check out if you want to get an idea of what the tweeting community in Oman is like. His wife happens to be one of the organizers and Muscati did his part in warmly greeting people as they entered.
If you didn’t go yesterday (Wed. Jan. 25th) I highly recommend you go there today (Thurs. Jan. 26th) and enjoy a few hours supporting local businesses while enjoying some great entertainment and fantastic deals (and plenty of freebies!). It is well worth the 2 rial entrance fee! Great job to all the organizers and volunteers of Mommy & Me! As I mentioned on twitter, our son cried all the way to the car after leaving the exhibition. He was having such a great time that he just didn’t want it to end!
