Food, Inc.
Simply amazing. It really makes you rethink what you eat and how it affects, not just the planet, but the economy and the people within the food industry. It raises many questions about the future of our food supply and the repercussions of genetically modifying our food. It also really focuses on the business side of the equation and how there are very few corporations controlling food production. Gives you a lot of food for thought, insert groan here:)

The Corporation
Did you know that a corporation is legally a person? Well I didn’t until I watched this movie. The filmmakers endeavor to find out what kind of person a corporation is by using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual psychiatrists use and citing case studies. They conclude that corporations are psychopaths that dominate and control the world on an economic, political and social level. This is my go to movie for inspiration to continue to be green and less of a consumer.

The Cove
If you are an animal lover this will be difficult to watch. It shows how a team uncovers brutal dolphin massacres in Japan. It’s very powerful.

Home
This movie was shot using the same type of camera as the Planet Earth series and its is stunning. It details our planet, our home, from its origins to present day and the environmental and socio-economic impact we have had on the earth. The really amazing thing about this movie is you can watch it for free here. And the filmmakers did this on purpose so everyone can watch it and be inspired to do something. This movie is also carbon offset, meaning they calculated the CO2 emissions they made and offset them by funding clean energy.

An Inconvenient Truth
This the Al Gore movie. I really enjoyed it. I found that his science was solid and he put global warming in terms that anyone could understand. It was also interesting to hear his story and why spreading the word is important to him.

The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See
Odum found this on YouTube, apparently it went viral a few years ago. Its nothing special and not a real movie, its like 10 minutes. But this ordinary guy is a freaking genius! Whether you think humans have caused climate change or not, you can not help but agree with his logic: we need to do something to be prepared for the worst. Seriously he should be some sort of government advisor.

These last two aren’t really eco-conscience but more socially conscience.

Anything by Micheal Moore
Usually you can’t go wrong with Micheal Moore. I haven’t seen the newest one yet, Capitalism: A Love Story, but my favorite is probably Sicko. He does a really excellent job of getting real life stories, talking to people on the front lines of issues like health care, and rallying people together. And there’s always a funny little antic he pulls to make his point.

Autism: The Musical
This is a really powerful documentary following five families with children on the spectrum. One of the moms forms a theater group for a group of children with autism and her goal is to have them preform a musical. Its very raw and very real. It looks at the parents relationships, advocating for your child and the range of emotions parents go through. But most important it shows these kids accomplishing an incredible goal.

I’m not the greatest review writer, but I hope you check out these movies. And if you have any to suggest to me fire away!

We’ve been really lucky with Tristan and really haven’t experienced tantrums like this before. If he did tantrum it was only because we where leaving a fun place to come home and even then he was easily redirected and the tantrum was short lived. Not now. Now we have full out kicking, screaming, rolling on the floor, nuclear meltdowns. Its usually over sharing trains with Maya, occasionally during therapy and sometimes we just can’t figure out what has set him off. After all the progress Tristan has made it has been really difficult to see this. I feel like he’s either having some sort of regression or his awareness is increasing and he’s acting more like a typical three year old. Like I said from one extreme to the other.

Added to this Odum has been working seven days a week writing his thesis. He has to be done ASAP so he can find a job since we have to move out of the graduate student housing we live in, in April. So because he’s been working seven days a week I don’t get much of a break. We don’t have any family close by to help out and I feel very isolated most of the time. Both of us are so burnt out. It goes without saying its also really stressful not to know where we’re going to be living next month.

We also got a hard dose of reality when we recently watched Autism:The Musical. This is an amazing documentary that really gives you an insight into the issues families with autism have to confront. Most of the kids in the movie where older, around ten and older, and it gave us a bit of insight into what Tristan’s future may be like and issues we may have to deal with. At one point in the movie one of the mothers made a great point about our kids’ futures. She said not only is it about getting our kids the therapy, but its also about how they will be valued by society. Even after years of therapy many children and adults with autism have differences that may not be accepted, nurtured or celebrated. This woman’s daughter had autism and was being taught life skills like how to wash dishes. The mother questioned what kind of future that is for her daughter to being relegated to washing dishes and sweeping floors. Was that really the only thing she could contribute to society? She even went so far as to say she wished her daughter would die before her because her daughter will most likely never be independent. That’s the kind of fear and desperation parents have. Our hope is for Tristan to be independent, to find a passion and do what he loves, to have meaningful relationships and be a valued member of society. We haven’t allowed ourselves to think about any other possible future for him, and the thought that we may have to led me to have a mini emotional breakdown.

Right now our focus has been getting Tristan the treatment he needs while he’s young and not so much on his future. And so here we have another issue we’ve been debating the past few weeks: Tristan’s therapy. I came across a really great discussion on a therapy called Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) and we’ve been thinking a lot about it and IBI. There are a few things about IBI that I’m not completely happy about that were brought up in this discussion and ways in which RDI is helpful. I still have lots of reading to do but from what I gather RDI focuses on building a reciprocal relationship with your child, which is a challenge for some kids on the spectrum. It focuses more on the development of a relationship, which eventually allows the child to improve their communication and social skills and uses the reciprocity of the relationship as the reinforcer. IBI focuses on drilling to teach skills and uses tangible positive reinforcement for successes. Don’t get me wrong Tristan’s progress while in IBI has been nothing short of remarkable, but at times it feels to me like its similar to how you may train an animal. I think the hard thing is to know what to do. No one can give you a definitive or even close to definitive answer on exactly what to do for autism and if it will help. Which leaves you as the parent second guessing yourself and looking for answers anywhere and everywhere.

This post is all over the place. Just like a rollercoaster I guess. I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for us. Its just a pinprick but Odum is so close to being done this master’s and I know he’ll find a job. With all his experience and education he better! And Tristan has made leaps and bounds of progress and we have no reason to think that will stop. Just lots of things for us to think about. Its important to take things just one day to the next but its also important to take a step back and look at the big picture. As you can see we are going through a lot right now, there are a lot of changes in store for us and many important decisions to be made. What we have decided for sure is to continue to work at healing Tristan’s physical problems with our naturopath. And most importantly to endeavor to enjoy each moment with both kids and let them be kids.

A typical day for my kids is like this:
Breakfast:
French Toast – I just dip my homemade bread into egg mixed with almond milk, vanilla and cinnamon and fry it
Banana
Snack:
Rice crackers or rice cakes or cheerios (we use Nature’s Path Whole O’s organic and gluten free)
Lunch:
Scrambled eggs with pureed sweet potato with Salsa for dipping
Steamed mixed veggies
Homemade Gluten Free Bread
Apple
Snack:
Homemade Flax cookies or carrots or grapes
Supper
Baked Chicken or Meatballs
Steamed Veggies
Pasta (Tinkyada has great gluten free pasta)
Fruit

As you can see its really not that different from what other kids eat, there’s just no dairy and wheat products are replaced with gluten free. It just takes a bit more effort at first.

To help you out here are a few of our favorite recipes:

Since Tristan has been on the anti-yeast protocol I’ve been making yeast free bread and both kids love it!

Gluten Free/Casein Free/Yeast Free Bread

Mix together dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups rice flour
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix together wet ingredients:
1 or 2 grated carrots
1/2 a grated zucchini
1 grated apple
2 eggs
2 tbsp canola oil
3/4 cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 to 1/2 cup pureed or mashed sweet potato

Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until moistened. Grease a 5×9 loaf pan and pour in batter. Bake at 375 for 60 minutes.

Flax Seed Cookies

Mix together dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups rice flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup ground flax seeds, you can use less if you like

Cream together:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2/3 cup brown sugar
Add:
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg

Add dry ingredients to wet. Form into a ball once mixed and refrigerate for at least an hour. Once the doughs firm form it into small balls and bake at 300 for 20ish minutes. I always keep an eye on these so I’m not certain of how long I bake them for. Now Odum says that my picture of the cookies makes them look like turds, LOL, the funny thing is he eats them by the handful!

Super Sneaky Maple Meatballs
Mix together:
1lb ground beef, chicken or turkey
1/2 cup pureed or mashed sweet potato or butternut squash
1 egg
1/4 cup maple syrup
finely diced onion – use however much you like, I don’t like too much so I probably use an eighth of an onion
finely diced mushrooms – I use 4 or 5
1/2 to 3/4 cup breadcrumbs – I usually just make my own by throwing bread crusts into my magic bullet
1/2 to 3/4 cup pureed or mashed veggies – if I have some steamed leftover veggies, or veggies that are just about to go bad I puree them up, spinach is a great addition!
1-2 tbsp Italian seasoning – however much you like
pinch of salt
pinch of garlic powder

I’m pretty approximate with this recipe. If it seems pretty wet because you’ve used lots of veggies add more breadcrumbs. Form into meatballs or loaf and bake at 350 for an hourish.

I tweak my recipes a lot, and all of these recipes where not gluten or casein free to begin with. So add in spices you like or veggies you like, have fun with it! And please add your faves too!

Here are my tips and tricks for the gluten free/casein free diet. My next post will include some recipes, too much to put everything in one post!

Two things to keep in mind:
1. It usually takes 3 weeks for casein to be completely out of your system and up to 3 months to get rid of gluten.
2. Check the labels on creams, lotions, supplements, soaps etc to make sure they are also gluten and casein free.

Also I’m not a doctor, dietitian or nutritionist, so please don’t take my word as gospel!

Casein
Casein is the predominant protein found in dairy products. It’s even in some soy products. I looked for soy cheese and yogurt and all of the brands our store carries has casein in it. When you’re reading labels look out for the words: casein, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate or milk protein. Calcium carbonate is ok. There’s a really great cookbook, the Uncheese Cookbook that I took a few recipes out of that weren’t too bad. They use a lot of nutritional yeast, tahini and miso to mimic the cheese flavor.

In terms of milk for the kids we use almond milk, it even comes in chocolate. Rice milk and soy milk did not agree with the kids tummies so we don’t use those. And I’ve heard a lot of great things about hemp milk, although I haven’t seen it in our grocery store.

Gluten
Gluten is the predominant protein in wheat and is found in anything made with wheat and that’s a ton of products. Eliminating gluten was definitely the trickiest part, but we had the most success once we did. You really have to be a label reader with gluten as it shows up in the most random places, like soy sauce. This is a link to a the Canadian Celiac Association that gives you a list of safe, unsafe and questionable gluten products. I’ve found that since we started the diet with Tristan almost a year ago grocery stores have really widened the variety of gluten free products they carry. Cheerios, pretzels, cookies, pastas you name our store usually carries it.

Wheat products are probably the hardest thing to replace in terms of taste and texture. Glutino and Namaste have great tasting products. Tinkyada has great pastas, I almost wouldn’t know the difference. For bread always go for brown rice bread not white rice, the white rice bread tends to be super crumbly. For flour you can buy gluten free flour mixes but I’ve never really liked them. There’s one type of flour I don’t know which kind but it is just disgusting and its always in the mixes. So I go for the brown rice flour and it works great, I’ve never had any problems with baking.

For most of our favorite recipes I’ve been able to tweak them. I use almond milk instead of cows milk, rice flour instead of white flour and so far I’ve had a ton of success. Tristan is also an extremely picky eater, he never eats veggies, so I puree or mash lots of veggies and hide them in meatballs, pancakes, breads, muffins anything! A great site for gluten free and usually casein free recipes is the Gluten Free Goddess, she makes gluten free look gourmet!

The gluten free/casein free diet can seem really overwhelming to begin with. So if you’re feeling overloaded just take it slow and try removing one thing at a time, first dairy then gluten. And if you make a slip don’t beat yourself up. Tristan accidentally got into some homemade (with flour) playdough at a playgroup and had a huge regression. It was heartbreaking for me to see, but I realized just what a big problem gluten was for him.

Any more tips for going gluten and casein free?

The therapy part of the equation is out of our hands a bit, we waited nine months for speech therapy and over a year for occupational therapy. Here in Ontario Tristan is entitled to half an hour each week of both. This is not nearly enough in my opinion. That’s why IBI is so important, Tristan recieves almost 10 hours of IBI a week. As I’ve said before the wait list here for IBI is three years! Since Odum is a student we can’t afford private IBI on our own but we where lucky enough to receive President’s Choice Children’s Charity grant to pay for it. It is incredible, but that’s a whole other post.

The treatment of Tristan’s physical issues is entirely up to us. Most pediatricians and family docs don’t endorse or aid in the biomedical approach to the treatment of autism. So pursuing this route is entirely up to the parents. Tristan had always had loose stools and I thought this was normalish. Our naturopath told us it is not and the cycling between diarrhea and constipation is a good indication that there is problems in the gut.

Many children with ASD have gut problems and Tristan is no exception. Many kids have what’s called a leaky gut. Basically leaky gut is a condition where the junctions in the intestinal wall are super loose and let through huge particles and toxins that normally wouldn’t be let through. Think of it like going through customs. If you have tight security the guy with the gun is not getting into the country to wrek havoc. Lose a few guards though and the bad guys get into the country.

This leakiness sets up a host of problems: yeast overgrowth, allergies, impaired immune function the list goes on. This is a reason why many children with autism have a gluten and casein allergies; these big proteins get through and not only start an immune reaction resulting in inflammation but they also act as opiates in the brain. As soon as we took Tristan off gluten and casein he was much more aware and didn’t stare off into space. And it seems counter intuitive but most people with this syndrome also have deficiencies in many vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients. We had an organic acids test done to see where Tristan had deficiencies and found he had yeast overgrowth, which caused him to have other deficiencies as well, like Vitamin B deficiencies. To begin to heal the gut this is what we are doing with Tristan, this is his supplement list:

Morning Juice:
1 tbsp children’s cod liver oil – for the omegas and vitamin A, it helps heal the intestinal walls
1 capsule of digestive enzyme to digest any leftover gluten or casein
1 capsule Vitamin B complex – since Tristan is deficient

Evening Juice:
1 capsule digestive enzyme
1 tsp probiotic – these are the good bacteria that you need in your stomach

Tristan is also on a Gluten Free/Casein Free diet

We also give Tristan an injection of vitamin B12 every three days. Read my Methyl B12 post for more info.

To counteract the yeast Tristan is currently on an anti-yeast protocol which involves a black walnut capsule in his juice twice a day, and bentonite and flax to help the dead yeast cells and their toxins out of his system.

A really great site to help you get started on biomedical intervention for autism is Generation Rescue, they go through step by step how you can start and why.

Once the yeast is out of Tristan’s system we’ll have to go back to the naturopath to see what our next course of action is. I would like to start zinc supplementation, I have a gut feeling this will be beneficial to Tristan. I also wonder if Tristan has any heavy metals in his system, like aluminum from vaccines or other metals from all the mouthing he does. I also wonder if Tristan has any viral problems from the MMR vaccine.

As you can see this treatment schedule is aggressive and can sometimes be overwhelming. We have therapy everyday, sometimes twice a day. And I’m always spiking his juice. But it’s worth it, when I heard mommy from him from the first time, I knew all the hard work was paying off. We still have a long way to go to heal Tristan. But he has made incredible gains and I have no doubt they will continue.

I’ve given this debate a lot of thought. When we first found out Tristan had autism I wanted to do everything in my power to ensure he would lead a “normal” life, whatever normal means. Now that I have had time to think more beyond each day with Tristan and see into his future, I see that I really don’t want to “cure” him. Make no mistake I want to give him the tools to be able to communicate effectively, form relationships, be a functional person in society and not be marginalized. But I also never want him to feel like I thought he wasn’t good enough or hasn’t recovered enough for me, I never want him to feel like we tried to change who he is fundamentally.

I believe autism is a difference, most individuals with autism see and sense the world differently from those without autism. However, I also believe in some cases autism is a disease, or better yet the autistic symptoms that are exhibited are the result of a diseased state in the body, that there is a gut-brain connection. Most kids with autism have gastrointestinal and other comorbid conditions and this can definitely have an effect on cognitive and other functions. If you don’t agree with the gut-brain connection just think back to the last time you got drunk.

I feel this whole argument of autism being a disorder or a difference really all boils down to the cause of autism. For people who believe autism is just a difference, they probably believe that autism and its traits are purely genetic or mostly genetic. And maybe in some cases it is. But for Tristan and many others this is not the case. Tristan has definite physical problems that have caused him to have autistic traits, and as we’ve changed his diet and added supplements, we’ve seen these traits lessen and disappear. Not to mention that there is no history in either Odum’s family or mine of developmental disabilities. Maybe Tristan does have some sort of genetic predisposition that caused caused him to be more vulnerable to toxins and poisons in the environment and maybe this is what led to him having autism. As a scientist one of my favorite sayings is “genetics loads the gun, its the environment that pulls the trigger”. Tristan was not born with autism.

So yes we are treating Tristan, we would be negligent as parents not to. Tristan had gastrointestinal problems, he has yeast overgrowth and vitamin deficiencies. Is it a coincidence that as we treat these problems his behavioral and developmental problems improve, I don’t think so. I think the people who tout autism as solely a difference may have only seen mild cases of autism, or not watched their child regress and become a shell of their former self. I almost wonder if these same people would call a physical disability a difference and berate parents for obtaining physical therapy for their child.

So what do you think, is autism a disability, disease or a difference?

Odum is feverishly finishing his Master’s thesis and will defend it before March. So as a result we are moving. Where? you ask. Well that’s the million dollar question. Odum has to get a job first so we’ve both been job hunting for him. So not only is the poor guy writing a thesis he’s also looking for job. And I am trying to get our house packed up since we have to be out of here by March. Let me tell you how fun that’s been with two crazy kiddos running around!

In addition to all this, Tristan has IBI therapy at least once a day, sometimes twice. We found out he has yeast overgrowth in his tummy, so we’ve been doing an anti-yeast protocol, which requires three different supplements (making the grand total of supplements ten!) that have to be taken at different times during the day. And he started a playgroup at Kidsability with three other kids with ASD. The result is a huge blossoming. Tristan is now onto three word phrases, he has been incredibly affectionate with everyone, especially Maya and he is playing functionally with his toys. It’s incredible to see this change in him.

Maya is also a going concern, back at the end of November she decided that at 16 months she was ready to drop her nap, so no down time for me during the day to attend to blogging and all it encompasses. The up side of this is that she finally started sleeping through the night, and it only takes about half an hour to get her down, giving me more time at night. She is blossoming as well, new words every day, playing with her Little People house, and asking “What’s this” about everything she lays eyes on. It’s wonderful!

I’ve also been contemplating the tone of our blog, as I’ve realized that most posts are about autism and not too many about going green. And I’ve felt a bit bad about that, seeing as the blog is called My Green Family. But right now our life is so centered around autism I really don’t have time to write well thought out, well researched posts about green living. Make no mistake we do live as green as we can (we still don’t have a car!! and we’re making an attempt at a veganish lifestyle) I just don’t have time to write about it. Talking about autism and sharing our journey is more my focus right now. I recently met another mom who is just about where we were with Tristan a year ago. They don’t have a diagnosis yet but she was really interested in what we were doing with Tristan and the success we’ve had. I realized that it would have been great to have another mom to talk to when we started out on this journey. About what happens at assessments, at appointments, what different bio-med protocols are like and other things to expect. So that’s one of the things I’m going to endeavor to write about, that and talk about some autism related issues, like the neurodiversity movement.

So that’ s been our 2010 so far, whew! I hope yours has also started out well!

One of the biggest traditions in our house was always the food. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and turnip (my mom makes amazing Finnish turnip, the recipe has been passed down for generations). This year we’re staying at home so I’ll be in charge of our big Christmas meal. And due to Tristan’s diet restrictions and picky eating this tradition will be a bit different. I’ll be doing chicken breast instead of a turkey, cause I know Tristan will eat it. Dressing will be made from gluten free bread, potatos made with rice milk and not cream and no turnip since I don’t know the recipe yet and I really haven’t developed the palate for turnip yet.

Gifts are another tradition we’ve changed a bit. We don’t go crazy with presents for the kids, see my Story of Stuff post for an explanation. But we did get them both toys they can both play with, an advantage of having two so close in age! We also put a bit more thought into Tristan’s gift as we wanted to make sure he would play with it appropriately and not just use it to line up with his other toys, but really play with it. And for Odum my gift to him is more thoughtful and not just some random store bought thing, I’ll fill you in later.

We’re also going to incorporate some sort of activity into our Christmas day and not just make it about pigging out. Since we love hockey we’d eventually like to do a big family pond hockey game. But until the kids can skate we’ll settle for a nice walk on the trail near our house and maybe a toboggan ride.

There are many more ways we could have greened our Christmas this year. We need to get LED lights for our tree, we should have used an alternative for wrapping paper, we could have bought the kids toys that were eco-friendly, I could make a vegan Christmas dinner. But, (I know I know everyone always has an excuse) with three different therapies going on for Tristan and having therapy everyday of the week, not to mention making sure Maya doesn’t get lost in the shuffle or feel neglected, its been difficult to take the time and make better, greener more eco-conscience decisions about Christmas. We do the best we can with what we have right? Next year we’ll do better, we have to!

So from our family to yours have a happy holiday and may all your Christmases be…green!

Andrea, Odum, Tristan and Maya

Before I had Tristan I was pretty apathetic about breastfeeding, Odum on the other hand was and still is a hardcore lactivist! I was game to try it out and if it worked great. If not I was ok with formula feeding. I knew it was going to be a big adjustment to become a mom and I didn’t want to put any more pressure on myself. Today I am so pro-breastfeeding I’m almost at the lactivist level. Breastfeeding is so important for so many reasons. We’ve all heard the benefits for mom and baby but there are also great benefits for our planet.

Let’s start with the manufacture of formula. For the most part formula is made from cow’s milk. We’ve talked before about how detrimental dairy production is to the environment. The deforestation required for cow pasture and cow feed and air and water pollution from cow waste and flatulence.

Once the milk is obtained from the cow it undergoes processing in order to replicate breastmilk as closely as possible. This means the milk is altered and manufactured with flavoring, vitamins, proteins and other chemicals. The formula is then packaged in tin, paper and/or plastic. All these industrial processes just to create and package formula use energy and resources. Also think about all the gas used to get the milk to the factory and then the formula from the manufacturing plant to the retailers. Talk about tallying up a carbon footprint!

Once you buy the formula you also need bottles. The pollution caused by manufacturing and then discarding bottles and all the paraphernalia that goes with bottles adds up. You also have to use boiled water to make the formula, using water and energy. And think about all the water and energy used to clean and sterilize bottles. Yikes!

Now I’m not writing this to make anyone feel bad about formula feeding. You have to do what’s right for your family and what you feel comfortable with. I just didn’t realize just how eco-friendly breastfeeding was until I sat down and thought about it. And if you’re on the fence about whether to breastfeed or not here are some more great reasons to nurse your baby.

After all I come from a long line of bikers, both my grandparents where avid cyclists. My grandfather biked around Europe and my grandmother around Scotland. My incredible Uncle Ron biked from British Columbia to Ontario in 2005 and from Ontario to Newfoundland in 2008. We’d save a heap of money, significantly decrease our carbon footprint and get into wicked shape. So in May we sold the car and then Odum promptly left for a 4 day conference 6 hours away, leaving me with 2 kids under 3 without a car. Timing eh?!

I was of course scared shitless. We have two kids, two under 3. Was it going to be difficult doing everyday errands like grocery’s? What about getting to appointments? The nice thing about where we live right now is that we’re close to everything. The grocery store is a ten minute walk; I can see it from our bedroom window. The library which we go to once a week is about a 15 minute bike ride and actually it’s quicker to bike to than it is to drive to. (Waterloo has some great biking and walking trails.) Our favorite park, complete with splash pad, mini zoo, pond and two great playgrounds is a ten minute bike ride. The furthest we had to bike was to Tristan’s speech therapy appointments which is a 30 minute bike ride and to the doctors which is about forty minutes. The great thing about Odum being a Master’s student is how flexible his schedule is. Whenever we needed to go somewhere far we always went together until I felt comfortable on my own.

It’s now 7 months later and its one of the best decisions we’ve made.The secret to our success is our equipment. If you’re considering going carless and can afford to, spend the money and get a decent bike. Both Odum and I have hybrids, a cross between a mountain bike and road bike. They’re great for on the road and the few times we’ve off-roaded it on trails. Our bikes are comfortable and the gears work well which also makes biking enjoyable.

We did lots research on bike trailers for the kids and got a top of the line one. Obviously my biggest concern was their safety and I wasn’t willing to comprise on the trailer. We have a Chariot and I love it. Easily my favorite purchase ever! It’s roomy, has a storage area, and is easy to pull. Keep in mind I’m small, 4’11” and 100lbs on a good day. So me saying it’s easy to pull 2 kids weighing about 50lbs is saying something. The best thing about the Chariot is it can come with many attachments. It can easily change into a stroller, a jogging stroller, you can even get a harness for yourself and hike with it or cross country ski. I think one of the best things about using the chariot has been not having to wrestle the kids in and out of car seats and then into strollers. All I do is take the bike hitch off and put in the strolling which takes about 2 minutes for this unhandy mom. It’s great! Chariot carriers are also 100% free of harmful phthalates and are 99.7% PVC free and they’re made in Canada.

I’m really proud of our decision to go carless. We’ve saved so much money on insurance, maintenance, parking and gas. Best of all we’ve decreased our carbon footprint considerably. We only rented a car three times and that was to run errands we couldn’t have done on bikes or go on long trips. Both of us also got into great shape, I was either biking or jogging with the kids in the Chariot everyday.

We will get another car, hopefully in January, with all of Tristan’s therapy appointments we kind of have to. I can’t bike with the Chariot in the snow, and it’d be too cold. And there’s no way I’d take Tristan on the bus, that’s a whole other post! And I don’t think Tristan will cooperate in the Chariot next year, he’s just started to rebel against it now. But we’ve had such a great experience I think we’ve both become aware of how unnecessary having a car in the city is. And I think we’ll both be much more aware of not driving if it’s not a necessity or planning better if we do need to take a car out.

For me getting rid of the car felt like a big risk to take, but I’m glad I did. Whenever I get back from a ride I feel energized and like I’ve done something great for our planet by having one less car on the road. I’ve set an example for my children, and I hope one day they enjoy biking as much as I do.

We’re also not the only family to go carless, here is another family that took the Carless Challenge. So how about you? Are you up for the challenge?