The Fountain Effect...

Lucas taught Astral and Defy to toast! Cheers to the kale juice!!!


January has been a month of many new adventures in the lives of Astral and Defy, our 22 month old big boys. With the promise of a new year we expected many changes, but not this fast. Within the past month our guys have started making sentences and communicating more clearly. We have always been conscious of our behavior and actions in front of them, but now we realize that even little things that we say are being totally absorbed. For instance, whenever the boys eat a meal Star and Sunny, our canine companions, wait to gobble up any food that is dropped. We have no problem with that, we love them being instant little vacuum cleaners. Sometimes they get overly excited and jump up on the chairs and scratch at the boys’ legs and feet to try to get a hard-to-reach morsel of delight. I have found myself saying “go away” on occasion and had never thought anything of it. Well…until a couple of weeks ago when Astral and Defy started saying “go awaaaaay”. Where the hell did they learn that? They don’t watch television, go to daycare or a babysitter. After thinking about it, I realized it was me! They picked it up from the mealtime chaos of two toddlers and two doggies! I now try to choose my words even more carefully,no matter what the situation.

Along with clearer speech and an extensive toddler vocabulary Astral and Defy absolutely love to sing! They are seriously entertaining and really feel the music. They try so hard to carry the tune. I think we might have two little singers on our hands! They also love to dance and have the best and most randomly creative moves ever. They just need one more member to form their own little punk band…

Potty trainings is going very well. We introduced the potty early on to make them feel comfortable and to ease the transition. Astral and Defy currently wear diapers during naptime, bedtime and when they go outside. They use their potties the rest of the time. We have a bunch of organic training pants, but realized that they posed a problem, a problem we’ve coined as the “fountain effect”. Astral and Defy pee standing up and daddy taught them how to pull down their training pants to go to the potty, but sometimes they have a problem with pulling them down properly, so we end up with pee going straight up in the air. Not a fun clean up but worth a chuckle or two after the fact…

The cutest thing happened two nights ago. Lucas went in to check on the boys during the night. He didn’t see Astral in his bed and after looking around for him in the dark, he found him cuddled up in Defy’s bed. It was super adorable. We knew this would eventually happen. We’ve read and heard many stories from other twin parents about their sets sleeping together. We wonder if they will choose to sleep together often; they haven’t since that first time.

Over the past month we have had our fair share of the usual bumps and bruises that come along with twin toddlers. Astral scraped his back after falling from the handlebars of our treadmill. They are always scaling something and I always tell them when they are at the top of a rock climbing wall at the park or any appropriate climbing apparatus that they are “AMAZING”. I turned my back for like one second while in our bedroom and I hear “AMAZING” in the sweetest little voice and then a big CRASH! Again…they are such sponges! Thankfully he was okay and there was no permanent or severe damage. They are such stealth little danger twins. Lucas and I need another pair of eyes in the back of our heads and an extra hand or two each. EVOLUTION…

Lucas took the guys to their first stay-at-home dads’ play group yesterday. There were around 30 dads and many children. It was such a great opportunity for Lucas to mingle with other dads that understand and can relate to his lifestyle. He’s come along with me to a couple of the mommy playgroups I belong to, but I rarely get to attend since I work outside of the home fulltime. He had been hesitant to go to them without me because he just wasn't sure if the moms would feel comfortable with some dude hanging around, cramping their all-mommy style! We are very fortunate to live in an area with plenty stay-at-home daddy support. Now if only we could find a vegan stay-at-home dad playgroup. Ahhh vegan parents can dream, can’t they…

all photos are Astral Defiance and Defy Aster at 22

The Writing Is On The Wall...

21 Months

We are moving toward a new year and our future as parents of two, two year olds. Our little guys are quite expressive artistically and love drawing and coloring…especially on walls and other surfaces not quite meant to showcase the work of a toddler! We always redirect their creativity to paper (to their joint disappointment), but they always try a sneak a scribble or two on a wall, cabinet, or piece of furniture. Maybe they are just budding graffiti artists!

Their language skills are developing rapidly. They try to repeat what people say much more and have eased up a little on the baby talk. Recently, we pulled out the camera to take a picture of them and asked them to smile, and they both kept saying “my-allll”. They say it all the time now, usually coupled with an over-the-top, tooth-filled smile. They are now calling out for one another by name, especially if they are in separate rooms and often when one wakes up from sleep and the other is still snoozing. So sweet!

Every once in a while, when the weather is not suitable for outside play and when daddy can stomach it, he takes the boys to an indoor play area in a huge nearby shopping mall. Daddy is usually a little grumpy when he has to venture into a church of hyper-consumerism, but this play area gives the boys a chance to meet other children and expend some energy, so he tries his best. Recently, there have been live musical events for the holidays so daddy has taken them a little more frequently. On previous occasions Astral and Defy have refused to dance in public, but those days are long gone and they’ve been thoroughly enjoying showing off all their amazing dance moves. Clearly vegan babies are the best dancers!

Astral and Defy are eating really well and growing strong. They still love their green juices and smoothies, especially ones with avocado. Last week I made my first batch of homemade granola with oats, buckwheat flour, walnuts, raisins, coconut flakes, and maple syrup, and it was a big hit! They (daddy included) ravenously devoured the first batch and whined for more.

granola made with vegan love

We wanted to get one more post in for 2011! Short and sweet! I can’t believe it is going to be 2012 in a few hours. Having children seems to make the time fly by faster than ever. Hopefully the new year has great things in store and more people will be inspired to end animal exploitation and become vegan!!! Happy New Year...

The Perfect Circles…

The so called “terrible twos” are fast approaching, though at times it seems like this stage already started a while ago! Astral and Defy will be 21 months in a couple of days and they are constantly entertaining and terrifying us at the same time. They are super funny and already show promise of great senses of humor. They are also little dare-devils and seem destined for a future of professional skateboarding (daddy would love this) or stuntmen! There is no holding these two little guys down. They know how to get out of anything that confines them, including tightened car seat straps and booster seats. One minute they’ll be eating at the table and the next they will be standing on top of the table dancing. Super cute, but super dangerous as well!

We have two budding artist who proudly know how to say and indentify all of their basic colors and shapes. They've recently moved on to drawing perfect little circles and they’re working on hearts and straight lines! We have some pretty strong "artist genes" in the family so maybe they will inherit the talent.

They continue their love for books and can sit and listen intently, completely engrossed by a story. Their attention spans are great for their age. They enjoy going to the library, and as soon as we walk in the doors they are so excited they can’t help but scream, “BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!” while running toward the shelves. They don’t even wait to get to the kiddie section, sometimes they choose the most ridiculous non-children books! So cute!!!

The weather has been really nice and has allowed lots of playtime outside with just hoodies and not big bulky coats. I am sure that will be ending soon, but we are thankful while it lasts. Astral and Defy have been having so much fun playing with leaves this season. They love to roll around, bury themselves, gather and throw all the beautiful fallen leaves. Snowsuits are ready to be broken in with the first big snow, which will be a new adventure for our little boys.

Potty training is going great at full speed ahead! We are researching organic training pants right now for the next phase. We are so ready to retire their cloth diapers because cleaning them is every bit as pleasant as it sounds. Astral peed standing up last week, which they both have been doing for a while, but this time (GASP) he didn’t get any pee on the floor, it all went right into the potty. Totally perfecting his aim! LOVE IT!

The boys continue to eat pretty well and are still devouring their green juices and smoothies. Their favorite snack right now is nori (seaweed). They can’t get enough of the stuff. We love pulling out their healthy snacks at the parks and play dates and telling people about our vegan family.

The 20th month of Astral and Defy’s life, like every other, has passed by in what seems like a blink of an eye. Every time we meet another twin mom or dad, they always say the same thing: “it gets easier”. Just last week a mom was jogging by at the park and she yells out without stopping, “It gets easier…I have 7 year old twins”. Raising twins hasn’t been easy, but it isn’t as hard as people make it seem. Maybe because we had twins in the first round and we don’t know how easier the experience would be with a singleton. I think it gets easier for all parents as children grow and mature. Having twins may actually be easier at times because they have a fulltime partner to play and laugh with. They can entertain one another while lunch is being whipped up or while the floor is being swept. Even if it does get easier, I don’t really care, I’m all about relishing the now. Even when there is a tantrum and bodies fall dramatically to the ground, I cherish every second. I know one day Astral and Defy will be grown up and I will wish I had just one more love-filled toddler cuddle or high-pitched, squealing tantrum. When we decided to have children the last thing we thought was that it would be easy…

All photos are of Astral and Defy at 20 months old