raising a vegan child

When I was pregnant I knew Elinor would at the least be vegetarian until she decided otherwise. Now that she is here and I've been reading healthy happy vegan families making it look easy(veggie kids/vegan dad/before I was a mom/oh dear drea) I'm wanting to raise her vegan.

Of course the first thing people always ask are "HOW WILL SHE GET HER PROTEIN???" "HOW WILL SHE GET ANY CALCIUM??" because I guess you can't get either of those from anything except meat and milk. The only thing I'm remotely worried about her getting enough of is B-12 but we do use nutritional yeast a lot and also a lot of soymilks and cereals now have B-12. 

One post I found recently from Veggie Kids, on how to raise a vegan child, gives a break down on where exactly vegans can get there protein, calcium and other vitamins. Explained simple! Go read it non believers! 

I get pretty defensive when people question us for being vegan or now raising a vegan child. I feel like we eat a lot healthier than most of the people that question us. We are very aware of what we eat and need. I don't mind if someone eats meat but don't act like we don't know what we are doing.

 (I didn't mean to turn this into a vent but I've been getting little comments recently when someone finds out.)

girls weekend

Dave was in Texas for the weekend playing a show. It was super rainy and gross out Saturday and then Sunday we were being lazy so we ended up never leaving the house. I finally got a ton of laundry and cleaning done though! We also ate a lot.

 she stole my banana

 nectarines and puffs

 I made a wrap with hummus. peppers and sprouts. She stole a pepper and some hummus. She liked the hummus. 

I gave her a slice of my veggie burger. She liked it but since it's so crumbly too much kept breaking off in her mouth but she worked it out!

At one point she kept looking at the door and looking behind me. I texted Dave to tell him I think she is looking for him. He sent a picture of himself so I could show her. She started smiling as soon as she saw him. I went out of the picture to tell him and she started screaming. She was so mad I took him away. He finally was around some wireless and facetimed us for a couple of minutes. Her face was so cute. She just lit up and smiled and giggled. Elinor loves her Daddy!

food!

I was wanting to wait till Elinor is 6 months to start food but she is obviously ready. When we went to her 4 month check up our Doctor told us anytime we feel she is ready we should start.
Last Saturday while we were out to eat the owner brought a fruit plate out for Ellie. I told him thank you but she doesn't eat yet. He left her a blueberry anyway. I ended up giving it to her because she was trying to eat everything on the table anyway. She had that typical grossed out baby face but then went frantic wanting more and grabbing for food on my plate.

The next morning I was eating a coco pop cake (you know, those things like rice cakes that whole foods sells and scares me everytime I walk by and it pops one out really loud). She grabbed the cake from me and shoved it in her mouth. Since they dissolve in your mouth I figured she could go ahead and num on it.

So Monday we bought her an organic banana to try it out. Of course we took a video. It's a little long but the beginning is funny. She had never used a spoon before and opens her mouth so wide right away. 

first food from caitlin mccormick on Vimeo.

Since then Dorie shared Henri's puffs with Ellie which she also loved. So now I guess our plan is to give her the basic fruits and veggies made in our beaba babycook until she is 6 months then add in a little baby led weaning.