A Cow Made It…

We are at the point where life with twin toddlers is getting easier and the benefit of having two children at the same exact age with the same exact needs actually assists in making life less hectic.  Astral and Defy have a built in playmate and it’s freaking fantastic when you just can’t build another amazing block tower only to have it destroyed yet again.

road trip entertainment

So at 26 months Astral and Defy went on a road trip after not having been on one since they were like 6 months old (it was awful back then so we vowed to not do it for a very long time).  Thankfully the boys behaved super well on the drive there and back.  They didn’t need a DVD player or a tablet to keep them happy in the car like many kids their age.  They read books, played with their toys and ate lots of yummy and healthy vegan snacks.  They were quite entertained by one another as well.  We did have a “crazy poop situation”, but otherwise the drives were pretty uneventful (in a good way).  We are off to the beach in July so hopefully our next trip will run just as smooth.

vegan toddler breakfast

 quinoa, tofu and stir-fried veggies

 strawberry and avacado pudding

chowing down on vegan blue tacos

While many families roll into popular fast food chains on road trips, our vegan family packs a small cooler and brings tons of great vegan treats for the road.  The boys enjoyed coconut milk, hummus, crackers, strawberries, blueberries, peanut butter sandwiches, dried mango, granola and many more yummy snacks on the road.  It isn’t a problem or inconvenient in any way, it just takes a little preparation and is so worth it!

The weather has really warmed up and outdoor water play-time is here.  The boys love splashing around in water.  This should be such a fun summer, they are super active and way more coordinated than last summer.  We expect a lot of pink cheeks, boo-boos and dirty little hands.  Astral and Defy have their first safety helmets and have been trying out a set of scooters a neighbor gave them that her twins outgrew.  They are such big and mature 2 year olds, I think they are ready to transition to bikes with training wheels and retire the tricycles.  We are really thrilled that they actually like wearing the helmets (they wore them inside for hours the day we bought them), we see skateboarding and other dangerous sports in their future so we wanted to get the safety thing squared away early on!

botanical garden fun

Although daddy and I are constantly telling the boys, in age appropriate ways, about the reality of how animals are exploited and treated by humans, they haven't seemed to comprehend it until recently. A flyer came in the mail for a new restaurant in our area that serves organic, free-range, happy, and certified-hugged-and-kissed-to-death animal bodies. On it there is a picture of cows grazing in an open field juxtaposed to a picture of a very non-vegan cheese burger. While I was at work, daddy explained to them that humans must hurt those cows to make that burger. Later, when I came home, Astral showed me the flyer, shook his head disapprovingly, and said, "A cow made dat. A cow made it".

Earlier this month, daddy was showing the boys a National Geographic magazine in which there was a picture of a very happy looking little girl at a 4-H event holding a rope that was around the neck of an ear-tagged cow. Once again, daddy explained that although the girl looks like she's having a good time, the cow is actually being used and hurt by humans and would eventually be killed. Defy looked at daddy with a sad expression on his face and then looked back at the picture and softly said, "Go away, cow. Go away", as if he didn't want the cow to be hurt. It was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

If you explain to a young child that hurting animals is wrong, they understand it and don't want it to happen! Imagine that...

 All photos in this post are of Astral and Defy at 26 months!

Big Kid Stuff...

This should come as no surprise, but DnA have been doing some "big kid" stuff in April. It can be difficult to remember how far they've come each month because they are constantly developing mentally and physically and are ever-changing, exploring their world and language in so many new ways. Hopefully in this short post I can capture the essence of these vegan toddler/big kid extraordinaires known as Astral and Defy.

The boys are still eating really well, but now they are starting to happily accept so many foods that they once disliked, such as hummus (I know, I know... All vegan kids are supposed to like hummus!), mushrooms and broccoli. They're using yummy vegan food for fuel so that they can keep up their exercise routines. Well, they don’t really have exercise routines, but they have been stretching, sprinting around the house from room to room, doing yoga-like poses (although they've never seen yoga... it must be a natural vegan thing!), chin-ups and attempting to copy daddy’s push-ups while he works out.

DnA really love imitating us and participating in whatever we do. They love pretending to cook and are so excited when they can help us out in the kitchen. They helped us roll dough for periogies a few weeks ago and it was so fulfilling to see how simple experiences in life can make them so joyful. Afterward they used their dough to make frozen dough cubes in an ice tray in the freezer. Turns out that's not very tasty, but they were so proud, and it was all about the experience. They always want to sprinkle nooch and spices on their meals as a way for them to assert their independence.“I do it, mommy... I dooo iiiit”... Such big boys!

We often mention the new things Astral and Defy say, but they are full-time talkers now. They spend a lot of time demanding and commanding, but, hey, they’re two! They can recite the alphabet, though it’s not always in order or complete. They can count to about 15, though sometimes that gets all mixed up too. They make full sentences and can say almost whatever they want. Daddy or I can get out an animal picture book and name the animals, and DnA will remember every single one and proudly identify them when asked. They even know the difference between an Emu and a Cassowary. Do you? The transition was super fast, but all of a sudden they just seem so grown up in their use of language and in their physical presence.

Astral and Defy love shouting, "ALL ABOARD" when they ride the train!

So this is a short post, and I won’t make any excuses besides laziness. I just wanted to get this April post posted. Overall the boys are doing great and are so healthy that even Nina Planck would have to acknowledge how well they're doing being raised as vegans...

Some Things Our Vegan Toddlers Eat

(along with a big fat kale or collard smoothie)

barley crusted seitan, green beans, and cheezy noodles

brown rice and lentils

tempeh fingers

baked tofu, hummus with veg, salad

All photos are of Astral Defiance and Defy Aster at 25 months old!

Birthdays, Blood and Boo Boo Doctors...

It’s official! We have two two-year olds. Astral and Defy celebrated their second birthday earlier this month. They really seemed to enjoy receiving and opening presents for the first time and would scream WOW as they opened each one. I taught them the happy birthday song for Lucas’ big 30th birthday at the end of February, so they were excited to have it sung in their honor a week later.

free the horsies!

Astral and Defy decided to make their first month as two year olds very memorable for mommy and daddy. The boys were playing on a kiddie slide we have inside and they decided to push it across the room toward the treadmill for reasons unknown (actually because they are total dangerous thrill seekers and I’m pretty sure they were going to jump from one apparatus to the other). I was a couple of feet away, ready to get the boys from atop the slide when Defy fell and hit the back of his head on the bottom corner of the treadmill. I immediately scooped him up, as I cupped his head in my hand, I felt the most awful feeling of wetness. When I looked at my hand it was covered in blood! He was screaming and crying, and I became hysterical. In a panic I screamed for Lucas to call 911. I had no clue what the damage was, but I reacted like it was the worst case scenario; you just can’t take chances with head injuries. I wrapped his head in a clean white towel (bad choice in color) which also ended up covered in blood. The ambulance was here in a matter of minutes, and I ran out to meet them carrying a bloody little Defy.

By the time we got into the ambulance D had completely stopped crying. The emergency workers quickly examined his head, and to my relief informed me that it was just a small scrape. Apparently head and face injuries tend to bleed a lot but are not always all that serious. My heart was still beating faster than ever, I could barely believe what they were saying. Here was my sweet little baby who had a just hit his head, was covered in head blood, and now according to EMTs, was completely fine! I was just so happy that he was okay, but still in total shock. They advised me that I should follow up with the doctor even though it was such a small abrasion. Since it was after 6pm they suggested we go to the ER, just in case. There, the ER doctor cleaned the area and put a tiny dot of antibiotic ointment on it. Thankfully he didn't have a concussion and no stitches, no shots, no radiation exams, no blood work, no follow up or aftercare necessary. She said it was smart to bring him in despite the all-clear from the EMTs. You just can’t chance it. She asked Defy if he liked popsicles. I told her that he's never had one (at least not the kind they would’ve provided) and that he loves fruit. She laughed and asked if I had any fruit with me, jokingly exclaiming that “this is a hospital we don’t have healthy things like that”. Of course I had three mandarins, a banana and an apple in my purse (this is how vegan moms roll). She wanted him to eat the fruit before we left and then 30 minutes later we were free to go.

As first time parents we are often extra cautious, but accidents do and will happen. I have learned a lot from this experience. If a similar situation occurs in the future, I will try to take a second to breathe and assess the situation before totally freaking out. I was too frightened and panicked to examine Defy’s head closely, but even if I had I would have probably still gone to the ER, just maybe not via ambulance. We can laugh about the ridiculous situation now, but at the time it was far from amusing. It was really touching to see how much empathy Astral showed for his injured brother. He seemed very concerned, and before we left in a rush, he handed Defy his favorite little plush turtle friend to bring along for the ride. Hopefully this is learning experience for EVERYONE. The boys have been discussing the “boo boo doctor” often since, so they have not forgotten. And of course the slide has been put away until further notice (forever).

The spring weather has been super beautiful (slightly eerie) for most of the month, Astral and Defy would live outside if we let them. They love digging in the dirt, picking wild flowers, playing in leaves and exploring/examining trees and their bark. The boys often prefer collecting sticks, burying themselves in leaves or climbing on stones and fallen logs over playing on playground equipment. It’s a rare occasion that we are able to come inside without directing them straight to the bath tub.

DnA had their two year old check-up, where they totally impressed the pediatrician with their speech, size and agility (she said so herself). They are sometimes reserved in unfamiliar environments, but for some reason they were happy to answer questions and show off their distinct personalities this go around at the doctor’s office. They both weighed in at 30lbs (Astral was a couple ounces heavier) and Astral came in at 37 inches tall and Defy was 36 ¼ inches. Astral and Defy are both in the 90-95th percentile for height and the pediatrician said that from charting their growth so far they will both be well over 6 feet tall! That’s much taller than both mommy and daddy! We have some tall genes on both sides of our family so it makes perfect sense. Their weights are both in the 75-90th percentile. These statistics don’t matter much to us (as long as our boys are healthy, we are happy), but I wanted to post the figures as proof that vegan children are not - as some sensationalistic anti-vegans would like you to believe - necessarily skinny, weak, unable to grow/thrive, or cognitively or physically deficient in any way. Never let anyone tell you that it isn’t possible to raise healthy vegan children…

all photos are of Astral & Defy at 24 months

Daddy Time and Nursery Rhymes...

Damn, I never contribute to this blog anymore. I have a valid excuse though - I'm busy as hell! Who would have thought that raising twin human beings would be so much work and take up so much time? It is and it does! In fact, it took me about thirty minutes to type those last four sentences because I had to 1.) break up a fight 2.) clean up urine on the floor 3.) clean urine out of a toy bucket full of wooden toys 4.) wipe crayon off the wall 5.) stop Astral from unlocking and opening the front door three times (yes, he can do that now!) and 6.) tickle Defy's belly and armpits. Ok, so I didn't have to tickle D, but it was oh so hard not to.

Can you believe that DnA will be turning 2 on March 3rd? I know, right? I'm going to risk annoying many of you by pulling The Parent Card and telling you that time flies when raising children, like it's all been one big dream. I had always heard that, and it's so true. What most parents won't tell you is that this is actually the result of living in somewhat of a hypnagogic delirium for many consecutive months. A beautiful and magical hypnagogic delirium of course!

Anyways, I've just recently been getting a sufficient amount of sleep to allow my brain to function somewhat normally, and the boys can chill and play without my assistance much more now, so hey, why not help Mama out with this month's posting by sharing some random vegan parenting/at-home daddy stuff?

As you've read in recent posts, Astral and Defy have come a long way in the last couple of months. They are saying more words than ever and their vocabulary expands daily. They're putting words together and forming small sentences. They seem so proud of themselves when they say something correctly. Never mind that everything they say sounds like it's coming from a cross between kung fu movie voice over actors and slightly disgruntled lollipop kids; they're still saying a lot of shit and proud of it, dammit! They've picked up one adjective in particular that they love to use to describe any and every thing. That's the word "big". Big kid, big bite, big step, big jump, big book, big trike, big tower (when they are stacking blocks), big banana, big booger, and big poop (my personal favorite), everything is BIG.

The boys are also very physically active, more so than ever. They can climb all kinds of playground apparatuses with little difficulty and enjoy jumping off really high platforms. Honestly, they scare the hell out of me on a daily basis. At home they are quite the little daredevils. They are not satisfied with simply riding their tricycles or playing their xylophones. No, they have to stand up on the middle bars of their tricycles and flip their xylophones upside down and try to ride them like skateboards (see adorable photos above). One day, I had finished doing something in the kitchen and then walked into the living room to find Defy standing on the couch readying himself to jump. I didn't realize that he had positioned his tricycle in front of the couch to try to land on it. Before I could act, he jumped and landed with both feet on the middle bar and then the trike flew out from under him! I ran to pick him up only to find that he was laughing hysterically along with Astral, who also thoroughly enjoyed the stunt. Then Defy tried to put his trike back into position!

They also enjoy much less dangerous activities such as drawing, dancing, singing, stacking blocks, knocking over stacked blocks, re-stacking blocks, fake-sleeping, watching squirrels, and pretending that they're cooking and eating. No need to have the television on because they have no problem entertaining themselves.

There really haven't been any social problems so far with Astral and Defy being raised as vegans, although I expect there to be in the near future once we start encountering more involved social situations. The only issue I've encountered is having to turn down snacks offered by other parents, guardians, or nannies when at a park or at playgroups, but that's fine because it gives me an opportunity to talk about veganism. Surprisingly, no one has ever responded negatively when I mention that the boys are being raised as vegans. I don't think I've even been asked about where the boys get protein, probably because they're so freaking huge. From what I read online, there is this idea out there that babies raised as vegans are small, weak, slow developing and listless, but that's obviously bullshit. Of course, people, babies included, come in all different shapes and sizes, all with unique personalities, and all children develop at their own pace. My point is that a vegan diet, in and of itself, clearly does not stunt growth or development no matter how many times some asshole from the Weston A. Price Foundation claims otherwise.

On many occasions I've taken the boys to story and song time at the library, and every time I feel the need to change up the lyrics of nursery rhymes and folk songs. There is a lot of animal exploitation in nursery rhymes and folk songs and, well, we can't be havin' that. For us, Old Macdonald doesn't have a farm; he has a sanctuary (sometimes it's a veganic farm). Baa Baa Black Sheep most certainly does not have any wool to give to humans. And when she comes around the mountain you can bet that she'll be riding a fucking bicycle, and we will definitely not be killing an old red rooster to eat his dead body. No, we'll happily share our chickpeas and dumplings with him! I mean, these are supposed to be children's songs, right? I met a vegan mother of two young girls at a storytime when I overheard her doing the same kind of thing over "Thanksgiving". A story about "turkey dinners" was being read and this mother kept telling her daughters that turkeys are their friends and that they love them so they don't eat them. How awesome is that?

I recently joined a local at-home dads’ group that has weekly play dates at one of the members' homes. The boys and I have been going and it's really cool. It's important to talk to other adults during the day, and every dad I've met shared this sentiment. Also, the boys get to hang out with other kids, so that matters too!

It's difficult to cram twenty-one months of at-home daddy moments into one blog so I'll just have to leave it at that. Since I take the boys out into the non-vegan world every day, I'll try to post about being put in more non-vegan situations and how we handle them. That is, if/when I can find the time...

all photos are of Astral Defiance and Defy Aster @ 23 months