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To Be One Of Those Cool “Half Marathon Parents”

August 11, 2013 at 12:13 am , by 

2 years, 8 months.

Dear Jack,

Now that on Facebook I’ve stopped engaging myself in conversations or debates involving anything political, religious, or regarding a plant-based lifestyle, or curing cancer through Gerson Therapy…

Or being sarcastic and therefore confusing people, or posting phony status updates meant to mock the desperate cries for attention and pity that are so abundant, well… Facebook just isn’t that entertaining to me anymore.

And I think Facebook is a better place now, without me playing that role. These days all I do on it is just publish my letters to you and “like” peoples’ pictures.

That’s it.

So basically, I’m only on Facebook for 5 minutes a day, looking at my friends’ pictures to learn if anyone is having a baby or just went on a trip.

Or, by default, seeing pictures of them running in a half marathon.

Through that process, I’ve realized the nirvana I wish to achieve on Facebook:

To be one of those cool parents who runs half marathons and otherwise leaves the general public guessing on their personal opinions and lifestyles.

To be someone who Facebook friends ultimately only know through pictures with no captions.

I admire those people. I think they are cool. I wouldn’t mind being a little mysterious… (As if this helps!)

Lucky for me, today is Mommy’s birthday! (She and I are the exact same age for 9 months of the year; and that 9 months begins today.)

So yesterday, the three of us went to Fleet Feet so Mommy could try on some new running shoes, with the advice and direction of an expert. After all, she and I have had our old running shoes since before we were married over 5 years ago.

And for the past couple of years, she’s been telling me she wants to run in a half marathon.

Though I’ve always encouraged her to do so, there evidently was something motivating about this birthday that caused her to decide to take the plunge… by actually buying the official, right shoes for it.

So as Mommy was picking out her shoes, I turned aside to her quickly as the sales associate was checking the back of the store for a different size shoe for her:

“Hey, should I get shoes too, and join you in that half marathon?” I asked.

The rest is history. It seems like only yesterday… oh wait, it was.

Mommy is now the proud new owner of a pair of New Balance’s- and for me, a pair of Mizuno’s.

This is a pretty big deal for us. Mommy and I get to have a hobby! We get to be somewhat of experts on a thing.

Even if it’s simply running for a sort of long distance in a race we’re not actually trying to win.

In the process of buying these new shoes and doing YouTube searches on running a half marathon, I am now quickly becoming familiar with “front foot running.”(When you run in place, you put your weight on the front of your foot, not your heel. “Front foot running” is using the running-in-place model to move forward, to keep from permanently damaging your joints.)

I have to admit, I’m starting to feel pretty cool all of the sudden… on my way to be one of those half marathon parents!

Not that Mommy needs a new hobby to be cool. She’s way cool. And way beautiful.

Not to mention, she’s so sincere and giving of a person. You and I are so blessed to have her in our family of three. But you already know that.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

1 Comment Posted on food reviews, Health, parenting, vegan

Non-Dairy, Plant-Based Options For Eggs, Milk, Cheese & Butter

July 28, 2013 at 1:06 pm , by 

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The Health-Conscious Road Trip: An Oxymoron?

July 7, 2013 at 8:47 pm , by 

2 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

I can barely remember it, but for the first five months of our marriage, Mommy and I didn’t have any dietary restrictions.

Whenever we took a road trip, we didn’t have to consider where or what we could eat; just where and what we didn’t want to eat.

Then we went kosher in November 2008, and vegetarian in December 2011, then I went vegan in March 2013; as you and Mommy are pretty much there with me too by now.

With that being said, gone are the days of not having to carefully plan out in advance every single meal and snack over the course of a road trip.

As you know, this past weekend for our 5 year wedding anniversary, Mommy and I decided to take you along for a mini-road trip; a 2 and a half hour drive to Louisville, Kentucky.

Using hotel points we had earned last year, we made it an overnight trip and visited the magnificent Louisville Zoo.

Just as we had to plan out in advance which hotel we’d be staying in, making sure we could not only redeem our points there but also that it was closest to the zoo, we additionally had to find out its proximity to the nearest Whole Foods Market.

Basically, we packed half the food we would need, including plenty of water and snacks; then bought the other half of the food at Whole Foods the next morning.

We dined on veggie wraps, fruit snacks, and bottled water in the parking lot. It was like a picnic in our car; fortunately, it was the perfect weather for it… not too hot or wet.

Plus, I knew from previous visits to Loiusville that the city is laced with 14 different Heine Brothers’ Coffeeshops. Not only is their coffee perfect, which Mommy and I could definitely appreciate as a fun way to start the day, but they also have plenty of vegan options for snacks.

So was it difficult to make our road trip a health-conscious one? No, because we carefully planned for it.

But was the actual driving part of the road trip difficult because it threw off your sleep schedule? Absolutely!

(That’s a whole different story and I plan to tell it in the near future.)

Our mini-road trip served as necessary practice for the big one up ahead in a few weeks, when we will be taking our annual family vacation in Sacramento to see Mommy’s family.

It’s one thing to avoid eating at restaurants for 23 hours, but another thing when we’re staying at someone else’s house for over a week and trying not to become a burden because of our alternative lifestyle.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

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Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Mama Milk Share

July 1, 2013 at 11:57 pm , by 

2 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

I love being a part of conversations in which people can openly and honestly discuss where their food comes from.

With that being said, Alicia Silverstone is currently showing up in headlines because of an announcement she made on her blog, The Kind Life:

“….because we are a community of beautiful souls who recognize the importance of food as health, I say we help support those mamas and babies who need a hand during one of the most important times in their lives. It’s why I’m starting the Kind Mama Milk Share, a way for moms to connect with other moms in their area. If you have milk to share–post it! If you are in need of milk–post it! Think of all the babies we can help raise together!”

I instantly knew how I felt about it, but I wanted to test out the story on Facebook first. Honestly, I personally had never heard of a “milk bank” before today.

Fortunately, I only received positive, insightful feedback. A Dadabase reader named Sarah perfectly summarized my feelings on the subject:

“Good for her! There are a number of groups like this already. Human Milk 4 Human Babies is one example. It is interesting that the same folks who are squeamish about milk donation, never bat an eye about the consumption of milk from an entirely different species. I understand the concern for transmitting disease, that would be my only hesitation. But isn’t there a risk of disease from formula feeding as well? 

If I wasn’t able to breastfeed my kids, for whatever reason, I’d consider it. If I had a surplus of milk in my freezer, I’d much rather see it go to good use! Coming from someone who pumped exclusively for 12 months, it is devastating to throw away.”

Whenever a story goes viral, I always like to figure out why. My initial thought was that there must be strong criticism against Alicia Silverstone’s announcement. Instead, it seems the story is growing in popularity because so many people can relate, or are at least intrigued by it.

As I’ve been reading through the comments on Alicia Silverstone’s blog, I see a sanctuary of positive feedback. Something I didn’t consider was how this subject relates to adoption.

My friend Angela shared with me her story on Facebook, regarding adoption:

“This has been in the front of my mind as of late. I was able to breastfeed all 3 of my babies. However, as we are shifting to fostering babies I am stocking formula and attending WIC meetings. Ugh. It would be amazing to be able to give these little ones breast milk but obviously this mobile milk machine is not accessible for them. This is very intriguing to me.”

Like I said, I love being a part of conversations in which people can openly and honestly discuss where their food comes from. I have found that’s not always so easy. In fact, I’m working on a story right now called “Never Talk About Politics, Religion, Or Peoples’ Food,” which points out this fact.

However, it seems that Alicia Silverstone is making a lot of people happy by engaging them and spreading her good ideas to them about Kind Mama Milk Share.

It’s nice to see something so good go without criticism.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Photo: Breast pump, via Shutterstock

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My 2 And A Half Year-Old Stutters… So What?

June 25, 2013 at 9:21 pm , by 

2 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

About a month ago or so, you began stuttering regularly.

You suddenly had trouble getting through any sentence that had the word “he” in it:

“He-he-he-he-he-he-he-he-he-he drives a purple truck?”

There for a few weeks, it got pretty bad. So I began Googling “my 2 and a half year-old stutters.”

I read that you should outgrow your stuttering within a few months, but if it persisted for more than 6 months, that at that point it might be a good idea to take you to a specialist.

At the same time, one of my coworkers was telling me that she and her husband had recently took their own stuttering 2 and a half-year old to a specialist; who basically said, “Don’t worry about it. Your child will probably outgrow it.”

Within a few weeks, his stuttering began diminishing.

The funny thing is, now that I think about it, you’re not really stuttering like you were a month ago.

Although the word “he” still trips you up some of the time, as does “why,” I can recognize that your stuttering seems to be more of a nearly forgettable phase.

Actually, that’s why I’m writing about it to you today- to document it so that a year from now I actually remember it happened.

I wonder if it’s a common thing for 2 and a half year-old’s to go through a stuttering phase? The fact I so easily found matching results on Google would lead me to believe so.

So in this case, Google was right. Mommy and I did best not to freak out about it and instead just let it run its course.

Sure, some children surely do have ongoing stuttering issues, which I am not intending to underestimate. (I am not a doctor nor am I giving medical advice of any kind; just sharing a personal experience.)

As for you, though, yours appears to just be a phase that is fading away.

 

Love,

Daddy