Pelto Pod Life

What just happened!? Halloween to New Year’s in warp speed!

We have had a terrific holiday season celebrating with family and watching Link skillfully add words to his vocabulary by the minute. He became a mocking bird just in time to learn everyone’s name!  I am proud to announce that I am regularly addressed as ‘Mommy!’

During the holidays I was just floored with gratitude, day after day, by all my family and the love they share. We were showered with gifts and embraces everywhere we went.

We had a terrific time celebrating Christmas morning at home before we headed over to Mummi and Ukki’s. Link opened his gift (enjoyed the ripping) and bounced in excitement to open up the boxes.

We later went to Oklahoma where we got to reunite with the Benkendorf/Sallee family and see the farm in Enid. Exciting news that we have a new nephew/niece on the way!!! Congrats Brian and Nicole! There has been a baby boom and we are loving it!

Our next stop was Florida. We had a wonderful time with friends during our cookout where Mommy learned a lesson in hula hooping and poi! It was great to get old friends reunited. On new years day, we had brunch with the Chubb’s and got to see Mitch and Eliese’s new home. Holy moley is it gorgeous! Those cousins are living the FL dream! On the 3rd, we zipped home where we were greeted by Aunt KC in Greensboro.

We are so blessed to have so much awesome family that is so generous. Thank you everyone for your gifts of love and enjoyable presence!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This year was Link’s first trick or treating adventure! He loved it and did fabulous. He carried his own bucket and ran about the whole time, he didn’t break character once. His outfit was a hit, cutest marathoner in town! Mommy put on some regular clothes and called herself a hippie and Daddy was a ninja.

We went trick or treating with our friends Katie, Bess and more! We discovered that Link is most definitely not a fan of witch hats, but nothing else scared him! He had no problem going up to people's door, in fact, he tried to go in to a couple houses (scary)! About half way through he just wanted to run, so we let him go all up and down the streets. He was in marathon heaven!

By the time we got home is was 8:30 and he didn't seem at all tired! I hope he had as much fun as his Mommy and Daddy did. We thought it was a terrific holiday.

That would be Link's first phrase, newest words and FAVORITE thing to say! Mommy started saying that to get him to go down the slide, which he now loves, and Link has started saying it for anything and everything. It is adorable!

He has also learned to jump! We have been working on this for awhile. His feet don't always leave the ground but they have! It is must for him to say "drump!" every time he tries too. :)

Link is now 20-months old! {Yikes!} Lots of his friends and even his cousin are starting their potty training around 2 years old, so I thought now would be a good time to start talking about the potty and watching how Daddy does it.

Well now I’m here to toot Link’s horn! This morning, he was walking around Donald Duck style (the usual) and goes to the bathroom, opens the door and points at his potty and says “Buh Buh”. We call his potty the Bear Potty because there’s a bear on the front. I asked if he needed to use it and he walks right up to it and pees in the bucket! I was so excited! He went on to pick up the bucket and help pour it in the toilet and helped rinse it out. Then he did it again after lunch! No peeing on the floor in days. 

I hope this means potty training will be easier than I imagined! I’m prepared to go at his pace, which is usually a few steps ahead of my own.

Let the fall festivities begin!!! It was nearing 90 degrees but that didn't stop of from pretending its chilly fall weather. While Daddy-Hubs had to work all weekend :( Link and Mommy went on a lovely hayride from Dean's Farms. They had huge watermelon, strawberry, cotton and pumpkin fields. Link got to pick his own pumpkin and meet some farm animals that are not cared for good enough (hopefully he couldn't tell). We plan to go back for the Cotton Maze and playground!

Part Fun- Pt. 2

Hello Loves!

Just wanted to update here on some adorable things that Link is now doing. He is growing and developing at alarming rates! He picks up on things so quickly I feel like I need a curriculum of fun learning topics at 18 months! In fact, I’m working on one to make sure I am not leaving any basic knowledge out. ^_^

Animal Noises! Thanks to “Moo, Baa, LA LA LA” by Sandra Boynton, Link thinks it is so fun to make animal noises while we read the book and randomly throughout the day. His favorite is the cat and his meow is heart-melting. Lilith can’t help but perk up! He can also do a cow, pig, rhinoceros (lol!), dog, sheep and bubbles.

Yoga! We just couldn’t resist teaching him a few basics of one of our new-found favorite activities. Right now he can do arms straight up, forward fold and namaste (prayer pose) and, of course, applause for himself afterwards, every time! We are working on downward dog now.

Skipping! Really it looks like he’s doing the Gangnam Style dance, but he sure enjoys it! He usually does it when he can’t decide between running and dancing (his two favorite physical activities).

"Crayon!" He yells this almost every time we’re in the kitchen or by the bookshelf where his crayons are. In the kitchen, he is refferring to the dry-erase markers. We are still working on keeping the marking on the white boards and not eating the crayons!

"Boop!" This is the new word for ‘nurse’ and doubles as Mommy’s new name. Lovely right?! We can’t help but giggle. He used to say ‘nurse’ and ‘boob’ quite well so I guess this is him trying new things.

"Poop!" Not only does he say it but, sometimes, he tells us right before or during the act. This comes in handy seeing as he loves to be naked!

General awesomeness on the daily. That’s what Daddy-Hubs wanted to add to the list. I have to say, it’s true.

Meanwhile, we are happy to say that Stewart, Kristen and Lyon have moved back to Raleigh! We are so excited to have them close again! The Link & Lyon Legacy begins!

Link also experienced his first drum circle! He really enjoyed it and even joined in for a minute, but then the enticing staircases surrounding us got his attention. The most fun was dancing with him while everyone played!

Now for random cuteness recently captured:

Love to you all! Thanks for sharing our experiences with us!

Finally, right!? In our eyes, that is certainly the thought. We have been transitioning to the lifestyle for years. It is all about gradual small changes! I say lifestyle because this is SO much more than dietary habits. 

So when we say vegan, this is just a way to make it understandable, 'vegan' is just a label after all. Personally, we mean:

No eating animal products or by-products (pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks included)

No wearing animals

No using products or supporting companies that are not cruelty-free

Being eco-friendly

Compassionate to all life including Earth

Keeping peace 

LOVE is all it is. We love the animals too much to subject them to a life for death (especially cruel ones). We love this Earth we live on and want to leave it as healthy as possible for our future generations. We love ourselves so much, we want to feed our bodies healthy, organic, non-GMO foods. We love you too! We may share our lifestyle changes, but accept you as you are. 

It is definitely a work in progress and will be for a long time! We have found that you can not go vegan all the night. Also, right when you think you're handlin' biz, you realize you've been wearing silk! We still have products that we need to trade in and swap for vegan alternatives. Down blankets, shoes with leather soles, silk necklaces, etc. 

Progress is progress. I feel great about our changes and am always excited to learn more natural alternatives to... well, everything! 

It was brought to my attention, several times today, that my son is no longer a baby. He is 1.5 years old!

I woke up to 5 sweetest, milky, close-mouthed kisses, all his idea!!! It was the sweetest way to start a day. Every morning at about 6 a.m. he comes in to Mommy and Daddy’s room for his morning nurse session. Sometimes he falls back asleep, but lately he is up and at ‘em by 7 a.m. And he is HUNGRY! If we try to stay in bed he starts to bounce on us and say “EAT! EAT!” Then, when you get up to head to the kitchen he runs as fast as he can giggling. There is surely some Chubb in this one. ^_^

Not only does he melt my heart with kisses, but he is also picking up on words and sign language SO fast. If he hears something, he will try it out until he nails it! His sign language isn’t ever right on, but that just makes it cuter. I am so thrilled to be able to communicate with words now! I will admit, it is bittersweet. This is the last baby-like quality and it rapidly receding. We are starting a new chapter of Link-hood and this momma is so proud!

His newest words and signs are:

Boob

Poop

Mommy & Daddy (sign)

Music (word & sign)

Ball (word & sign)

Book

Full sentences of gibberish that he is SURE means something