A is for Alphabet

Since I have a degree in English Education, and the emphasis of my degree was on how people learn language, I thought I would write about how I'm teaching Violet her letters.  I don't claim to have the best way,  but I can offer my method and reasoning.

First of all, it's been child-lead.  We have the alphabet strung up in her room in the form of cute flash cards and a giant stuffed catapillar with the alphabet on it.  Of course, we also read with her lots and have since before she was born.  We got her a foam alphabet for the bath when she was about 18 months old, and she has wooden flash cards that she has played with on and off.  The point is, her environment is "text-rich." The idea is to pique her interest in reading and writting without explicitly teaching it.

I introduced letters with what they spelled.  So A was "A for apple" and B is "B for baby."  We began this when she got her foam letters just playing in the bathtub.  She would pick up a letter and we'd tell her what it was for, or we'd ask her to find that letter.  She learned about half her letters that way, but only as what they stood for.  As we read alphabet-themed books, we'd say introduce the idea that A is for apple, but the book also has an airplane, because A is for airplane too.  This took a while to really sink in, and is still mulling around in her mind.  She asks us to write her favorite words out for her.  She'll say a word and then we write it and she loves that.

When her textual literacy increased, I noticed a marked increase in her image literacy as well.  She began pointing to airplanes in a book and saying airplane, etc.  She was "reading" the pictures, which in my mind is just as valid and important of a step.  She even has a Curious George book that combines pictures with the text to tell the story.

Once she was recognizing letters, she started trying to sing the alphabet song more.  So now we sing the alphabet fairly often, and she calls it "ABC."  As she's taken more interest in the song, we've noticed that she notices "ABC" out in the world.  We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond yesterday and she kept saying, "ABC ABC ABC, up there!"  She was pointing to the B,B, and B sign.  She also points to the words in her books with only a few words and more pictures and specifically wants to know what they say.  Other times, we just look through and name the things we see in the pictures.  I got her a book that is like I Spy that has a key on one side of the things to look for  and then the big picture.  She can "read" that herself, and it gives her confidence.

I've always felt that the key to success in school is risk-taking, which stems from confidence.  The most important tool we can give our children is the confidence to ask questions, try new things, and explore their world.  Then it's just a matter of presenting opportunity as often as possible.

My goal at some point is to make a book in a binder or something with each letter and then for that page have pictures to reflect the words that begin with that letter.  Some day.

Trying to Get Blogging Again: The Alphabet

The alphabet is big in my house right now.  My two year old is trying so hard to learn the song, and she's learning her letters, and I thought it's a cute way to keep me blogging and give me topics to write on.

For 26 days (or 26 posts if I lag and can't keep up every day), I'll focus a post around the next letter in the alphabet.  If you have ideas for something you'd like me to write about on a certain day, feel free to put those ideas in the comments here (X is for???).

I'll try to post later today with the letter A.

He's Here! Another Vegan Born

Well any concerns from family and friends (and strangers) about the health of my vegan pregnancy can vanish.  On September 23rd I gave birth to a NINE POUND two ounce little boy who is healthy as can be.

This birth was definitely different from the last.  With Violet's birth, we spent a long time in early labor and a long time in active labor.  We were probably in the tub for 6-8 hours with Violet, and I was fully dilated when I got in the tub...   It had also been over 12 hours since I had realized I was in labor when we got in the tub.  Now this may sound horrific to some, but in many ways we really enjoyed our slow labor.  Even in the final stages, Gordon and I were sleeping in between contractions and things moved slowly and easily.  This was a drawback too, though, because by the end of it I was exhausted and depleted.  I passed out the first time I went to the bathroom after giving birth to Violet, but I was so tired I honestly thought I had just fallen asleep on the toilet.

Anyway, this time was not the slow and mild process of last time.  On Thursday evening, Gordon and Violet took the dogs the lake by our house for a walk.  I stayed home to rest.  I went to the bathroom and while I had been passing bits and pieces of my mucus plug for weeks, what came out that night was the largest "chunk" yet.  I texted Gordon and said that I must love him because I opted not to save or photograph the mucus plug.  I was having semi-strong contractions here and there, but I had been for weeks.  We had had so many false starts, I tried not to let this big signal give me too much false hope that Dez would be here soon.Thursday night I felt crampy, and woke several times in discomfort.  At 3am I had to really focus on my breathing and relaxation in order to get back to sleep.  I was excited the next morning to find pink-tinged mucus when I went to the bathroom.  I told Gordon that it wasn't an exact rule, but that I had had my "bloody/birth show" and I thought I would be having the baby that day.

Unfortunately, because of the several false starts we'd had, this wasn't the first time I had said this, and we both took it with a grain of salt.

We went to Arctic Playgroundz so Violet could run off some energy, and I noticed that the surges were stronger.  I didn't try to time them at this point because I didn't think they were coming regularly, and again I didn't want to falsely get my hopes up.  A woman at the playground asked how far along I was, and I told her 40 weeks and 2 days.  She and the woman next to her looked shocked, and she exclaimed, "And they aren't inducing you?!"  As if treating my healthy pregnancy as such was cruel and unusual torture...  I just smiled and said, "Well, I think I'm having him today, so it's not really an issue."  They both looked at me like I was crazy for thinking a full-term baby was normal and for crawling around on the floor with my toddler on the day I was going to have a baby.  Oh well.  I was still smiling.

When we got home, Violet went right down for a nap and I made a big hearty lunch.  I made kobocha squash soup from scratch and tempeh BLT's with avocado.  I had a feeling it might be my last meal for a while, and I wanted to fill up.  My labor with Violet was so long that I didn't eat or drink for far too long, and I ended up passing out after labor.  I really didn't want that to happen again.  

I started timing my surges, and from around 1:30-2:30 they were between 7-4 minutes apart.  I decided the best thing to do would be to take a bath and see if they stopped.  With my false starts, changing my activity had stopped what I thougth was labor.  I got in the tub and continued to track it.  The surges continued at about 4.5 minutes apart.  I had a scheduled appointment at the birth center for 3:30, so I called at 3 and asked if I could skip it as I felt I was in labor.  My midwife called me back and said she would come by and set up, and if I felt like I needed more time, she could leave for dinner or something.  I was still trying not to get my hopes up, but that sounded like a good plan.

My midwife and her two apprentices got here around 4, and we were just getting done setting up the birth tub.  At that point I was pacing, swaying, sitting, or otherwise working through strong surges.  They were coming frequently enough that I wasn't able to help much and needed to focus on my breathing and visualization.  We put my HypnoBirthing affirmations on in the background, and that helped me focus.  My friend Natalie came to entertain Violet, and that made it so much easier.  They went in Violet's room to read, and I continued to pace as things picked up speed.  I realized then that this was the real deal, and that things were happening much quicker than Violet's birth.  I started to wonder if I was going to get a break.  I felt the urge to get in the tub, and it was finally full around 5pm.  

The tub soothed a lot of the discomfort of the surges, but they were still very strong.  I felt a lot of pressure, and this time I noticed a radiating warmth like when you hold a stretch for an extended period.  I knew my uterus was doing it's job as a strong muscle, and I knew my baby was getting closer.  Unlike Violet's birth, I really felt my uterus pushing downward and moving my baby.  About this time, Gordon finished cooking dinner for Violet and he got in the tub with me.

I used my surge breathing, a long breath in followed by a quick breath out, and low groans through each surge.  At some point, my body felt different, and I felt the need to breath OUT and DOWN.  I couldn't imagine that I could already be in the "pushing" phase, but my body was telling me to breath that baby down, and I could feel my natural expulsive reflex moving Dez down.  My groaning became an all out woman warrior scream at points.  I tried to keep my vocals low and always focused on keeping my mouth open as a reflection of my cervix and vagina.  At this point, I had a funny sensation.  I felt unbearably tired, like I just COULDN'T stay awake for another minute.  I wanted to tell my midwife that I just needed to get out of the tub and take a nap really quickly, then I could finish this later.  I knew how ridiculous that was, and I didn't say anything, but the urge was incredible at the time.   

As my vocals and surges got louder and more intense, I couldn't really respond to anyone around me.  Gordon suggested I lean over the edge of the tub, and I liked the sound of that.  I had just been thinking the same thing.  This position felt productive, and as Desmond moved down strongly, my bowls took the pressure and released.  That's what the fish net is for.  Natalie had put Violet to bed, and was standing in the hallway keeping watch.  I couldn't believe that Violet was sleeping through all the noise I was making!

I reached down and felt what was in fact the head, but I couldn't believe he was that close already.  When the midwife asked if I felt the head I said I didn't think so.  Of course, when that same head crowned just minutes later, it was obvious that it was in fact his head.  I crowned three times, the final time getting so close that the midwives seemed a bit startled that it went back in.  Gordon said, "No, it went back," and I knew he was remembering the hour (at least) that we spent with Violet's head emerging and retracting.  On the fourth surge though, it came out completely, and my yell that time was as much of shock as the sensation of stretching.  "Is his hair red?"  No, he's a brunette, but we love him just the same.  We quickly yelled to Natalie to get Violet, we wanted her there.  So Violet got in the tub with us, and after 3 minutes the final surge arrived and Desmond made his full entrance.  Gordon's hands were on him and he was put right on my chest at 7:30pm.

Violet kissed his head and patted him right away, and Gordon and I just basked in our children.  I believe I said something like, "He's here!" and I know Gordon understood how much that simple statement meant.  Violet was so excited that she started jumping in the tub and trying to swim in between petting her new brother.  After she submerged a few times, we asked Natalie to take her out of the tub, and she went right back to sleep without protest.  We bonded in the tub for probably close to an hour, and then the midwives offered to let me birth the placenta in my bed so I could lay down.  That sounded perfect, so we made the somewhat awkward trek down the hall to the bed.  Eventually, I was assisted in birthing the placenta and I felt a surge of relief and the remaining soreness and cramping I was feeling subsided.  I said that I didn't think I was torn, but was checked anyway.  There was a slight tearing not worth a single stitch.  I lost very little blood this time, and have continued to lose very little blood.  

Desmond had his first medical check-up right on our bed, and shocked us with his weight and length.  He's a big boy!  He's also "fully cooked" and just wonderfully developed.  Those extra days and weeks beyond when we thought he would come really paid off.   He's already proven to be very calm, but with a strong set of lungs when he has something to say.  He's an equinox baby and full of balance.  He not only has a good latch, but a great strong suck as well. 

We couldn't be happier with another fabulous homebirth, and the wonderful support from friends and care providers.  We are so lucky and grateful.  

I May Have Gotten Distracted

Well, the third trimester of this pregnancy threw me for a LOOP and a half!  I got food poisoning/a stomach flu at 35 weeks and all the puking started causing contractions...  I had to be put on bed rest, my mom flew up to help, and it's been pretty crazy since then.  Once I hit 37 weeks, I was given the okay to resume normal activities, and I kind of expected baby Dez to come soon after.  He had been trying to come so much over the previous two weeks, and it seemed he was destined to be early.

Family Portrait on lovely hike.

Of course, in true Murphy's Law form, as soon as it was okay to have the baby, the contractions mostly stopped, or at least got irregular.  I went for a walk the other day and ended up having contractions every 2 minutes on the dot for an hour, but then as soon as I got home they stopped completely.  It's just been a lot of start and go.

As for going, I've been doing what I can to get things moving:  hiking, rowing, and biking at 38 weeks.  I'm 39 weeks now and sticking mostly to walking, especially after the incident with the biking.  It turns out, when you ride a bike while pregnant, the relaxin in your joints and ligaments can enable your pelvic bone to actually shift out of alignment.  That doesn't feel great, but luckily I have an amazing chiropractor and I realized I needed to call her.  I thought it was just the pelvic pain of the third trimester... No, that is not normal.

I finally realized that there was something I had been forgetting, like any teacher has experienced.  The thing that I impress upon my HypnoBirthing students is one of the most essential aspects of the program I let slip to the wayside.  I forgot to do a fear release.  So today I had my husband guide me through it, and I was surprised by how it went.  In visualizing myself and my true inner being, I actually saw myself at Violet's age, running through the surf on the beach in Hawaii.  There is a picture of me like this that I drew from, but then as I was asked to go deeper, I found that the image of Violet and I had become interchangeable, and that who I am at my core is made up of who she is as well.  My mother was also there, when I was told to tap into my inner wisdom about birthing, my "birthrite."

Another surprise was that when I had to face my fears, the first thing that really loomed for me was an image of my friend's birth who just had a baby.  While she and the baby are fine now, there was some time just after the birth where the baby required oxygen, despite being concious.  When my friend told me the birth story, I didn't realize that I had internalized that outcome, but clearly it was right there in my mind once I allowed myself to face my fears.  I'm so glad I did that and am feeling much better about the birth and anticipate it any day/moment now :)

For you viewing enjoyment, here are some videos of what my little munchkin has been up to:

Here's Violet demonstrating just how effective the Tuffo Muddy Buddy Rain Suit really is.

Violet's Vegan Cupcakes: Pretending to be a Work at Home Mom

Some of my best tasting work, but not my best decor.  I was given less than 24 hour notice on this order though, and Violet was up until midnight, so I will cut myself some slack if you will too.

Sometimes, just for fun, I pretend to work.  People email me (honestly, I'm not even sure where they get my email half the time), and they ask me to make vegan cupcakes or cake for them.  Then I usually do and they pay me.

It's all very glamorous being a WAHM, instead of my day job, SAHM (which is of course a misnomer since I can't remember the last day I spent at home... but I digress).  I also get this sense of accomplishement when I am teaching my HypnoBirthing classes and need to prepare materials, review information, etc.

For a few hours, I marvel at what it must be like to ACTUALLY work from home on a regular basis.  Kudos to those who do it.  I don't know how they do.  I have a million and one business plans rolling around in my head, and I'd love to bring them all to fruition, but as it is, I'm afraid to advertise my baking because I couldn't deal with the fallout.

As it stands, I'm the only vegan baker in town that takes orders.  There are a few cafes that will on occasion have a vegan option available, but there is nothing for the special occasions of vegans in this town.  Nothing but me.  By association, I'm the only game in town for those with dairy or egg allergies.  I should probably advertise, build a better website, etc.  I just don't feel ready to work that much, and I'm okay with that.

I made $35 this week, though my profit was significantly less (fun fact, if you are going to sell your baked goods as vegan, you need to use organic sugar to make sure you don't have something processed with bone char).  It all adds up, especially when I use fine ingredients and lots of care.  Not to mention driving around town to get a cake box the right size, for crying out loud...

Teaching my classes ends up being a similar issue with timing and supplies and scheduling and ugh...

My job as mom, especially for the two weeks of the month that I am a single mom, is really consuming.  Being the sole provider for a toddler 24/7 as I enter my 3rd trimester is taking it's toll on me.  I'm getting tired, irritable, and I'm experiencing a super-fun shortness of breath lately as my big boy grows and stretches within me.  I know women have come before me and done this and women will do this after me, and quite frankly it's the norm to have a toddler when you are pregnant with your second, but I still need a quick gripe fest.

Child-Lead Potty Learning

When my daughter weaned, it was mostly a mutual choice, but not the child-lead situation I had anticipated.  At 18 months she was pulling on my shirt, throwing fits if I made her wait, and still wanting to nurse 5-10 times a day.  It wasn't a healthy relationship for either of us, and it had to come to a stop.  So I cut her back to 3 times a day, somehow, and after that I would only nurse her if she asked.  The more I kept her distracted, the less often she asked to nurse.  Eventually, we were just done, and after a week I refused when she asked again.  Of course, four months later she's trying to nurse every now and then, but I'm comfortable denying her now and she understands.

Still, part of me feels like we missed out on something that would empower her and make me feel like I wasn't pushing her.  Luckily, potty training has filled that void for me.  Of all the things that I have chosen to let her figure out on her own, I will admit that I didn't anticipate potty training being one of them.

Here's what we've been doing, and how it's been going:

0-3 months:  We began trying to look for "cues" that she had to go to the bathroom almost at birth.  We read about Elimination Communication, and found ourselves feeling frustrated and like failures.

3 months:  As much as we looked for cues and patterns, we finally found one- she started peeing every time we took off a dirty diaper.  So, we started holding her over the toilet at each diaper change.  Hazzah!  Success!  She still had wet diapers often, but she went in the potty each time as well, and seemed to save up her poops for when we took her to pee.

3-5 months:  We had less than a handful of poopy diapers during this time.  She began giving us a look when she had to poop, and seemed to really enjoy not sitting in her own waste.  Pees still happened both in the diaper and in the toilet.

5-21 months:  As she became mobile, letting us know she had to poop became less and less important.  We had a few poopy diapers here and there, but it was still less than once a week or even every two weeks.  Around 10 months she began pointing to her diaper when she needed to poop, and that helped.  Now that she is vocal, she will say, "poop."  We introduced a potty chair, which was okay, but she was still more comfortable with the toilet and a seat on it.  During this period of time, she peed on the floor approximately 1 billion times (it's laminate), but learned to get a towel and clean it up herself.

22 months:  She has begun taking off her own pants and diaper at times, so that she can sit on her potty chair and do her business.  She brings the little insert, and seems to enjoy the independence and privacy of using her potty chair by herself.  We went camping a few days ago and we learned that she would be potty trained if we lived exclusively outdoors (she would also probably be inconsolably happy if we lived exclusively outdoors, but until we find jobs in Hawaii this is not an option).  We were on a hike and didn't bring extra diapers, so we just took off her wet one and hoped for the best.  She watched me pull my pants down and squat to pee once and she was HOOKED.  She kept squatting down and and peeing and not getting any on her pants.  Then one time she walked off the trail a ways, and I found her squatting and pooping!  That's right, just like a dog does, she instinctively knew not to just poop in the middle of the trail!  We wiped with a leaf and moved on to more pees.  It was a great hike.  As soon as we were back in our cabin she immediately peed her pants.  You win some, you pee on some.

At this point, she's really impressed me with they way she has guided this change.  Yes, we support it and give positive feedback, but it seems her biggest factor in change is intrinsic motivation.

Who knows how much longer we have in diapers, or what will be the deciding factor to her making the crossover, but for now we're happy that we aren't forcing it and it's still happening easily and fluidly (like pee running down your leg).  We got You Can Go to the Potty by Dr. Sears and it really reinforces what we've already been doing without pressure or a timeline.  We have been reading that some and she seems to like it.  I feel like this is something that we've all found our way on together, without following any one program, and that's what I like best about Violet's potty learning, it's not something that some book or website had to teach us about, and not something that we had to teach her, it's something that has happened naturally by doing what we all feel makes sense and makes us each comfortable.

"Vegan Meatballs" Lie on Children's Menu: My Expose

There's nothing better than a great local restaurant that serves up delicious vegan fare.  For a place like that, I give good ratings on Urban Spoon, Yelp, and Happy Cow.  A place like that I tell my friends about.  I tell the people who ask me about going vegan and tasteless food, and "how do you go out to eat" to go to that restaurant so they can see for themselves.

In Anchorage, we don't have any all-vegan restaurants (at the time of publishing this post I have not yet opened up my own vegan cafe, sadly).  We do, however, have a few that are "vegan-friendly" and even more that are turning that way.  The local brewpub, Bear Tooth Theatrepub and Grill, now has an entire section of their menu dedicated to vegan items, though they have denied my offer to share recipes or even come in part time so that they could have some awesome vegan deserts to add to the fun.  The busiest breakfast diner, where Drew Barrymore ate quite often when she was shooting a movie in town, Snow City Cafe, now has an icon on their menu indicating which items can "easily be made vegan" and instead of just leaving things out and charging you the same price, they even let me sub avocado for the eggs they are leaving off.   Middle Way Cafe, a personal favorite of mine, almost always has a vegan baked good in addition to both savory and sweet vegan breakfast items and the most amazing avocado melt you can imagine for lunch.  Although I'm not usually the type to order a salad as an entree, I have been known to literally drink their lemon tahini dressing because it is so amazing.  There are many more that I really should take the time to list, but instead I will launch into the madness.

In Anchorage, there is one restaurant that is known for catering to vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians looking for free range buffalo burgers, organic lamb gyros, and wild Alaskan halibut wraps.  That place is Organic Oasis.  Oddly, while this particular restaurant is known for it's extra enlightened menu, the waitstaff is not always as well-informed as I would like.  They often don't know what they are serving, but have always been polite and quick to ask the chef about any of my questions.  In addition, the chef has always been great about altering a dish to meet my needs.  Unfortunately, it is neither the waitstaff or the chef writing the menu.

Rather than rehash the scenario and then post my letter, I will just post the email I sent to the owner after a very unpleasant circumstance.  I know there are typos, but I want to be honest about what I said and honest about my response, so I posting it as is:

The first time I went to Organic Oasis was about three years ago, when we were new to Anchorage.  At that time we were omnivores, but both my husband and I are allergic to dairy.  We were so pleased to see vegan carrot cake on the menu, and even mentioned that part of our excitement was because of our dairy allergy.  To our confusion and surprise, our cake was served to us with a scoop of Humboldt Creamery ice cream, which according to the menu is not included and actually costs extra.  We are pushovers and instead of raising a fuss, we just at what wasn't touching the ice cream, tipped our server despite this poor service, and figured there were no other options for us in Anchorage, so we might as well grin and bear it.

As the years have passed, we have enjoyed the food at Organic Oasis greatly, although again and again we were faced with servers who were very polite, but often didn't know what had dairy (or in several cases what "dairy" meant.  In answer to my question, "does the chocolate you use to make the mochas have milk in it?"  The reply I got was, "We can make it with rice milk."  When I reiterated that I meant the actual chocolate used to make the mocha, not whatever milk or milk substitute was use, I got a blank stare and the words "It's organic."  

In spite of these disappointments, the food is always tasty, and again, the service has always been friendly, if poorly informed about what they are serving.  I have my CSA box delivered there, and so at least once a week I eat lunch there with my daughter and we always have a good time.  We are now vegan, and there are so few options for us in Anchorage that we have put aside these mishaps in favor of being able to order food that we can trust to be vegan.

Last week, my husband, daughter, and I came in for lunch and we were thrilled to see spaghetti and vegan meatballs on the Children's Menu.  Eager to try the newest vegan item, we ordered it for our daughter, who has been vegan since birth (as such, we would have no idea if she is allergic to dairy or eggs, but when ordering vegan items that shouldn't be an issue).  What she didn't finish, I ate the next morning.  The vegan meatballs had a texture that I thought was really interesting, so I looked at the menu online and found that they were made from "myco-protein."  After a quick search, the only sources of myco-protein I could find were Quorn products, which any vegan knows contain egg whites.  Even the wikipedia definition of basic myco-protein says that it contains egg whites.  I held out hope and posted on your facebook page and attempted to call 3 or 4 times without ever getting through.  Today I went in and asked the waitress if the "vegan" meatballs had egg whites.  I was standing at the counter, so I saw her ask the chef, who pulled out a bag of Quorn meatballs and read the label.  "Yeah, there are egg whites in these," he said.  The waitress relayed the information with no apology or explanation other than, "they were just added to the menu." 

The waitstaff without an understanding of what vegan means is one thing, but it is inexcusable to put children at risk for potentially dangerous reactions to a fairly common allergen- eggs.  It's also in excusable to try to dupe vegans with a product whose packaging clearly states that it has eggs and does not in any way claim to be vegan.  As many claims as Organic Oasis makes about it's products, "free range" "organic" "grass fed" "corn syrup free" etc, and you can't read a simple list of ingredients?  I find it hard to believe that any of the statements you make about your food has any credibility at this point, and this has finally been the tipping point to turn away this customer.

I am also a member of the Alaska Veg Meetup, with about 150 members, and I have shared my concerns with them, as well as several local mothers I know with severely allergic children.  At least two of those mothers were previously very loyal customers, but I doubt they will be any longer.  

I truly hope you find a way to fix these inconsistancies, to reassure the local vegan and vegetarian communities, and to let parents know that you are not trying to put their children in harms way with your Children's Menu items.

Doesn't say vegan here.

This was the response I got:
I am sorry for your poor experience and for believing we are reckless & duping our customers with our offerings. I think you are a bit harsh here. We are on the frontier of food service. We ask for and expect a little latitude. We will take the vegan icon off the meatball dish. I have had so much headache trying to help special diet people. I owned & operated a vegan juice bar and cafe in this town for 8 years. That was 19897 to 1995. Special diet food is always a hard sell because the number of people is so small. There are hundreds of people who come through Organic Oasis each day. About 5% are special diet people. I try to facilitate them from a space of compassion. If we make a mistake out here on the food frontier, please try to be gentle with us. We try and sometimes we succeed, This is how a movement is grown. 

People who come to work for me have little experience in this "special" menu world called Organic Oasis. It is difficult for these servers to retain information. It is endemic across the industry. I fish from a shallow pond when I advertise for help. It is the biggest tragedy at Organic Oasis. Most servers have two jobs or are going to college making it difficult to conduct meaningful training sessions. You expect too much from people who make 8 dollars an hour. I come from a different  work ethic where we would claim ownership of our jobs. It just is not that way now days. Sure you can find good servers, but about 80% of them are deficient in basic skills and have cavalier attitudes. It is sad. Most people have no idea how difficult it is to offer on a daily basis all of these foods made from scratch. 
I am grateful for you taking the time to give honest feedback. But threatening to not come in anymore, you only hurt your options for dining out. Supporting places that pay attention to GMO, corn syrup, preservatives, etc, only helps the movement grow. I am sorry we will not see you anymore and even sorrier that I let you down. I take this seriously and will undoubtedly spring forward with action due to your feed back. Again, thank you for taking the time to care.

Quorn has the decency to warn consumers with allergies that this product contains eggs, as should any resaler.

I would first like to note that he has in no way addressed the issue of why a prepackaged item with a bold face warning below the ingredients list indicating that this product contains egg whites was put on the menu as "vegan meatballs."

The second thing I would point out is that while he indicates that of the "hundreds of customers" that come through the restaurant a day, only 5% are those with special diets, the menu is designed to cater almost exclusively to special diets of one sort or another.  It seems highly unlikely that of those hundreds, more than 5% don't eat a special diet of "mostly organic" foods, or a special diet that includes the avoidance of farmed fish/meat/GMO foods.  Wheatgrass shots a big seller at this restaurant, but I don't see the general population consuming a lot of wheatgrass.

Finally, I would like to point out that making a claim that something is vegan for no apparent reason other than to appeal to a broader audience calls into question all the other claims they make about their menu.  Are things labeled "organic" really organic, or was that just an error on the menu as well?  What does GMO-free mean if the menu author can't even read the ingredients on a package of Quorn meatless balls?  How carefully are they regulating their promises to their customers and the claims about what they are selling?  For me, it calls into the question the integrity of the entire establishment.

Where do I go from here?  That's the question.  I have been advised by more than one friend to write a letter to the editor of our local paper, especially because they were serving and incorrectly labeled item that contained a common allergen- and on the CHILDREN'S menu no less.  I'm not sure how far I want to take this, but I do feel that more should be done.  For now, I will publish this little rant and move on for a bit.

**UPDATE**  Well, last week, about two weeks after my initial email, a friend went into the restaurant and it was STILL on the menu.  Not only that, but when he said something to the waitress she had no idea, so it hasn't even been mentioned to the staff (only about 10 people work there).  To me, that means the owner is DELIBERATELY misleading customers and putting children at risk for a bad egg reaction.  It would cost nothing to put a sticky note next to the register or next to the schedule in back that says that the vegan meatballs aren't vegan, just let customers know.