Our Vegan Pregnancy: October 2012

10/31/2012 - Astral Defiance & Defy Aster 31 months

On the heels of Hurricane Sandy, a super storm that ravaged the Caribbean and basically shut down most of the east coast of the United States for a couple of days, we are lucky to have no damages and no loss of electricity. Things got pretty intense a couple days ago but now seem to be getting back to normal around here. While waiting out the storm, I had a moment to get my thoughts together and write this overdue blog.

One minor injury occurred during my blogging hiatus. Back in September the boys were roughhousing, as per custom in this house, when Astral fell on top of (or tackled) Defy. As they fell to the ground Astral apparently hit his front tooth on the side of Defy’s head. He informed us that his tooth hurt and we noticed a small drop of blood on his gum-line. I immediately took him to the dentist which incidentally was his first visit ever. I’ve always imagined that their first visit to the dentist would be one with all of us together as a family or at least one that was scheduled.

Earlier this month the boys had a chance to visit their beloved animal friends at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary during their annual fundraiser/open house event. Despite being “a little bit scared”, Astral and Defy absolutely love being in the presence of all the animals. They talk about Malcolm the goat and Bobby the pig on almost a daily basis, and they’ve been quite excited about meeting newly rescued baby pig Isaac. They also had their first up close and personal interaction with a clown which went better than we imagined it would. The balloon animal offerings must have won DnA over because they really seemed to enjoy the whole experience. Some clowns are super creepy (even to adults), Apple Dumpling was anything but. There were tons of delicious vegan food to enjoy and a silent auction of some interesting miscellaneous items. All in all, it was a lot of fun! We also had the pleasure of meeting a sweet vegan family that recently moved to the area. Hi to Julia, Ian and baby Leo!

These kids started talking and never skipped a beat. They understand everything and we can pretty much have conversations with them. It is pretty amazing to have two more people around for discussions. Their comprehension is impressive. Just now while typing this, I was talking to Lucas about needing a tissue and the next thing I knew Astral was holding up a piece of scrunched up toilet paper he had brought to me from the powder room. How cute is that? Also, they now have a stronger sense of time, which is really cool. They get that Grandma is coming over tomorrow or yesterday we went to see Malcolm. They get before and after too. They are learning how to write their alphabet and really enjoy their daily lessons with Daddy, although they do sometimes get distracted by their silly brother.

When the boys officially turned the big 2-point-5 we retired the cloth diapers and switched to cloth training pants and “big boy” undies. They have very few accidents now, a very important milestone, especially for those lucky parents that have been cleaning cloth diapers by hand for a couple of years. Yes, it is every bit as delightful as it sounds…

DnA are still eating really well and enjoying their green juices. We all caught a flu-like virus over the course of a couple weeks, which was pretty disrupting. Thankfully the boys only showed symptoms for a couple of days before returning to somewhat normal, but with decreased appetites. Since they’ve been better, it has been decided that they don’t like two staples in their diet for what seems like forever: peanut butter and their favorite multi-seed whole grain bread. Not a big deal, it happens. Toddlers sometimes love something one day only to passionately hate it the next and fall back in love the following day, without missing a beat. They love granola, beans, salads, fresh fruits and have been obsessed with pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pancakes lately. I think they enjoy helping to make the food almost as much as they enjoy eating it.