Anyone who knows me even remotely realizes how I feel about animal ethics.  I was a vegetarian for fifteen years before finally eating meat on my journey to get pregnant.  After giving birth I have come to terms with only eating chicken.  I do not want to become a diabetic as I get older like my mother did.  Having said that, it is a struggle to eat it.  I always buy compassionately raised chickens, free range eggs, etc.  Last week I was sickened to learn what big farming does to dairy cows.  I strive to uplift on my blog so I will spare anyone faint of heart the details, but it is truly awful.  So much so that I cried and resolved to try to go vegan.  Meanwhile, my four year old had been complaining about her tummy hurting every single day for several months now.  Concerned it wasn’t going away, I decided to take her to a pediatric gastroenterologist.  She had to have three very large vials of blood drawn and did so without making even one tiny peep — plus she watched.  So she is tough!  My husband once famously very nearly passed out over just HEARING the word “cervix”.  *eyes rolling*  Anyway, it turns out she has a mild allergy to dairy and eggs and has been told to avoid them.  She is practically a fromage gourmand.  Our Whole Foods cheese department appreciates her sophisticated palate and we have scored all these terribly expensive French cheese samples every time they’ve seen us.  Then there are the trips for yogurt after school and pizza Saturdays.  I was ashamed of myself when I thought of the kids and parents who live in constant fear over peanuts or even the kiddos allergic to gluten.  We are blessed and this is nothing.  So I explained to Maris that we were going to give the cows a break and start having milk from almonds.  We bought two different almond yogurts to try as well as almond cheeses.  (I do not want her having soy because I know it disrupts estrogen levels.)  I can honestly say we both like the chocolate almond milk better!!  I know dairy isn’t great for us anyway.  In a show of solidarity, I got my mocha frappuchino from Starbucks with coconut milk and it was delicious.  So I am truly looking at this as a blessing in disguise:  better health and kindness to animals.  Irish Nobel Prize winner George Bernard Shaw once quipped, “Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my friends.”  I do not want to hurt my friends either.