Art Book AKA Violet's Book

My daughter began preschool this year, and we couldn't be happier with our choice.  It's one room, one teacher, ten kids, and totally free.  There are art and craft tables, dress up, a water table, and lots of large objects for imaginative play.  Violet, being such an artist, chooses to paint most days, and comes home with these paintings on a regular basis (sometimes with as many as 5).  It didn't take long for the fridge to get covered, so I started taping them to the cupboards, and then the car was full... and so on...

I wanted to save them, but obviously displaying this growing collection just wasn't possible.  So I came up with a better way.

Here's a dragon she painted, as if I needed to tell you

A little matching project we did this weekend.  

I got a 2 or 3 inch binder, and a large (200) pack of clear document covers.  I filled my binder up, and now I date and enter each project.  I even write on the name of her creation if it has one.  I add pictures that she does at home, and even our foam hand turkey projects got put in there.  She loves that it's HER book, the Violet Book.  I love that it takes up almost no room, is saved, and organized.

Two Toddlers!

We rearranged our bedroom, and while we were moving stuff around my husband found this beautiful picture frame that someone gave us while pregnant with our first baby (now 3 and counting).  It has pressed flowers and says;

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide to forever have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

We just had a good friend who owns Free Spirit Studios take our family holiday pictures, and I decided to put one of the pictures in there.  Perfect.  While the quote in itself is so beautiful, it's even more apt now, as both my children are now walking, running, jumping (and wrestling).  I can't believe I have two big kids now, and no babies.

My daughter Violet is talking like crazy, and talking a lot about being vegan.  She tells anyone who will listen that she doesn't eat cow milk, she asks about what other people eat, and she's figuring out how to navigate the non-vegan world.  She's started preschool, and although everyone else shares a group snack, we pack her snack each day just for her.  I had so many fears going into this that it would be too hard or she'd feel too different.  Instead, she says, "They eat cow milk snacks, but I eat food."  No problem, as it turns out.  She's taken vegan books for sharing and had no issues with that, and when she brought her Adopt-an-Animal certificate from Farm Sanctuary, the teacher said she'd like to sponsor an animal as a class.  She's a total animal activist, and I've started a separate blog just for all the funny things she says and does in regards to veganism, Vegan Kids Say The Darndest Things.

Our baby boy is now a small man-child.  He's had the eyebrows of a man since birth, and it seems he's now growing into them with the personality to match.  He's learning to shake his head no, say "yeah," and give kisses on command (clearly this is my favorite new development).  He's a sweet cuddle bug, very independent, and he loves anything wheeled or round.  It's fun watching him grow and change in many ways that are the same as Violet and some so different.  While Violet has always been on the smallest end of the growth chart, Desmond is on the highest end.  We were recently at a gymnastics class for toddlers and all the kids were the same size, but it seemed like Dez was so far behind the others in speech.  I started asking around and discovered that the other kids (most of whom were shorter than him) were 3-6 months older than him.

There's a million more things, but what can you do?  Create time?  I'll try to catch back up, because I would like to reconnect in this way, it's just time and peace.  I've been using a lot of my free time to read or rest, and it's felt so good that I don't really find all that much extra time, but this is something I'd really like to pick back up.

L is for Long Time... It's Been a While

Well, I took a little break from blogging.

I keep starting this post and don't know how to write it yet.  I had some severe post partum depression, hitting rock bottom when I realized I had a plan to kill myself.  I'm seeing a doctor, taking medication, and getting help now.  Things are looking up, and I'm doing so much better.  It was really hard for me to ask for help, and I feel really embarrassed that I didn't seek help sooner.

Catching up:

We went to Hawaii and had a blast!  We rented bikes and rode all over to the kids' delight! 

I got dreadlocks while in Hawaii and LOVE them.

Desmond is FIVE months old now!

After our travels, my milk supply dropped and I have had to start supplementing with soy formula.

Desmond has started on solids and he loves food (I'll post fun baby food recipes soon).

K is for Keeping Up with the...

I have been searching for tips on how to handle two little monkeys, and one of the sites had a very good piece of advice:  Don't compare yourself to other moms.  This is SOOOO hard to do, but such good advice.  I'm lucky to be surrounded by such amazing moms, many of whom now have two kiddoes.  They all seem to be handling it so well, they keep their cool, they find time to do all these things while I haven't bathed in a week.  All things being equal, it's great to learn from and look up to your peers, but things are not equal.

First of all, not all parents are the same.  Maybe some moms can handle lots of loud noise/big messes/etc with just a sigh, but not all of us can.  Loud noises bother my husband much more than me, so I see it in my own home where I am able to keep my cool much longer with noisy play than he does.  It's not that he's more short-tempered than I am, it's that he's more sensitive to noises.  Each parent has their own stuff that pushes our buttons, and each kid makes their own kind of mischeif.  Sometimes this works out, sometimes it doesn't.

Second, not all kids are the same.  I was in denial for the first two years that Violet is a "spirited" child, but now I realize that she is more energetic, kinesthetic, and needy than many children.  When other moms watch her they return her to me with wide eyes and ask how I do it...  So the fact that I can get through the day is pretty good, right?

Third, unless you are going to actually ask for advice on how to improve your own parenting, making comparisons based on what you see doesn't really help you, it just makes you feel bad about yourself.

Finally, it's important to remember that what you see of other people's parenting is usually them at their best, and  yet we usually compare that to ourselves at our worst.

I've been really struggling this week, feeling like PPD is swallowing me up, and feeling lost and alone.  I just keep reminding myself that this too shall pass, and nothing needs to be perfect, it needs to be the best I can do.

J is for Jackfruit: Fruit Made Savory

The first time I heard about this jackfruit thing was when I was watching the second season of The Great Food Truck Race because I heard there was a vegan food truck participating.  The Seabirds truck was known for it's "jackfruit tacos" and they kept talking about them.

I looked up recipes and found two basic ideas:

1. Jackfruit "pulled pork" made by slow cooking jackfruit in BBQ sauce.
2.  Jackfruit "carnitas" made by cooking jackfruit with onion, garlic, and spices.

I went right out and got three cans of jackfruit.  As soon as I got home, I looked at the recipes closer, and saw that I needed GREEN jackfruit, not the ripe jackfruit I had purchased.  Of course.  I went back to the store and there was no green jackfruit, just the ripe kind.  The store I was at is largely Asian goods, so I was worried I wouldn't find it anywhere.  Everything I read said to look in Asian groceries though, so I tried another shop and found some.  I got two cans to try each method.

First I made the "pulled pork."  I sautteed the jackfruit with some garlic and got it a bit browned, then put it in the crock pot with a generous covering of my favorite BBQ sauce.  Straight out of the can, the jackfruit has a mild flavor that reminds me of a lychee, but not nearly as sweet.  The floral flavor still reads as sweet though, and I felt like with my sweet BBQ sauce it was just not right.  The texture was good though.  With the right sauce, it would probably be good.

Next, I made the "carnitas."  I had a "carne asada" spice pack that I had been wanting to use.  It was a late night snack, because my hubs wanted some nachos.  He heated up some black beans and cheddar daiya, while I made the jackfruit.  I rinsed the jackfruit and sauteed it with some oil and garlic.  Once it started to get browned, I mashed it up with a potato masher.  It's almost unsettling how the texture looks like shredded meat.  I then added the spices and continued to cook it until it got nice browned bits, and is mostly crispy.  I put these crispy, spicy, tender bits on top of the nacho dip and it added great texture and flavor.  The sweetness didn't come through for me, so it was perfect.  No, it's not meat, and frankly I don't really want something too much like meat anymore.

I liked it so much that I sent my darling husband to get some more jackfruit for me... A lot more.  The thing is, with two little ones, it's impossible to go into a small Asian grocery store.  So I texted Gordon while he was out running errands and said, "Could you get 10 or more cans of jackfruit?"

Apparently, a white guy buying 10 cans of jackfruit in a tiny Asian grocery store isn't odd enough to even warrant asking what he was using it for or why he liked it so much.  I wish I could read the cashier's mind and know what she thought of this purchase.

Sorry I don't have pictures, but I will try to update with some next time I make this.

For specialty stuff like this, Amazon is great!  Here's my affiliate link for the brand I buy.

I is for Imagination

Now that Violet is talking, the things that go on in her imagination are becoming more apparent to me, and it's so exciting getting this window into her creativity.

We got Violet this great little play stove at the Salvation Army.  It's so adorable, and even better now that daddy added a "sink" to it.  He cut a hole and inserted a metal bowl then added a faucent attachment so it looks like a sink.  Super cute, and knobs to turn.  She already had some play pots and pans, plus we got some plastic bowls while we were at the SA anyway, and she has her tea set.  All "cooking" toys now live within Violet's kitchedn, and she likes to play with it.

The great thing about this toy, for me, is listening to what she "makes."  Sometimes she makes what I'm making.  So I make her toast and give it to her, and she takes it over to her kitchen and "cooks" the toast and breaks it into pieces to put in her bowls and serve.  Other times she just cooks on her own though.  The other day she was cooking and bringing me plates.  I asked her what it was.
"Butter."
"Mmm...  Butter?  Is the butter on anything?"
"Tofu."
"Butter and tofu, okay, that sounds good."
Then she brought me a cup and said it was soup.
"Butter and tofu soup?"

She also plays with her baby dolls, and mimics things I do with her little brother, but also does her own things.  Last night my husband went in to check on her after bedtime when we heard noises.  She has recently learned to turn her light on and was playing by herself very contently in her lit up bedroom.  She had one baby doll sitting on the potty, and she was "feeding" another from her straw sippy cup of water before laying it down on an unfolded changing mat.

And finally, the cutest conversation as of late.  I had never talked to her before about what she wants to be when she grows up or what that even means.  I decided to give it a try without explanation and see how it went.
"Violet, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Ummm... grow up...  AIRPLANES!"
"You want to fly airplanes when you grow up?"
"YES!"
I thought that was so cute that I called for my husband and asked her agian.
"Violet, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Ummm... grow up... MOMMY."
"You can be a mommy when you grow up."
"Yeah.  Mommy."

What a fun and exciting age 2 is!  I'm really loving this stage.

H is for Happy

Joy is something we really wanted to give our children, and I have to say that in that respect we have been great parents.  Violet is a HAPPY child.  She smiles, laughs, and has fun all the time.  One of my favorite things she says right now is, "HAPPY!"

Twinkle, twinkle, little star... 

"It's flying Mommy!"