Cold Lunch Habit

Only two more days and Henry will have made it through his entire first year in public school without ever eating school lunch. Which means Mom has packed a significant number of sack lunches in his Star Wars lunch pail since August.

I'm so bored with his lunch. He seems fine with it. He's never encountered a peanut butter sandwich he wasn't wholly in love with. Which is good because he doesn't like much of anything else. Sometimes I get really wacky and make turkey baloney instead. or even ham and cheese. But no mayo, please, just plain bread, and if I'd cut the crusts off, that'd be the best.

Along with the sandwich, there's usually some chips or crackers, a piece of fruit, a juice box, occasionally a package of string cheese, and dessert (usually fruit snacks because ALL the cool kids at school bring fruit snacks -- *sigh*).

Once in a while, when I just can't stand the monotony anymore, I whip up some mac and cheese and plop it in his Thermos container. Or I make "homemade Lunchables"...litle squares of meat and cheese and Ritz crackers. Or, rarely, I'll send him some yogurt.

If I eat the same Weight Watchers frozen meal for lunch more than twice a month, I whine about it. I must give the kid credit. He never complains about my lunches. Mostly, because he knows he could be subjected to cardboard pizza or mystery concoctions like "tuna pinwheel surprise." I ate school lunch with him once this year. Once was more than enough for me. I don't blame him at all.

In fact, I rather enjoy knowing exactly what he's eating for lunch and how much. His scraps and empty bags and boxes stay stuffed in his pail for me to clean out. It's the one time I don't mind having to clean up after him. We'll see how long it takes for him to learn to swap food with other kids or throw 3/4 of a sandwich away so I won't know he didn't finish.

He still has about $18 of the $20 in lunch money we started with on his school lunch account -- I used his lunch card to buy my lunch the day I visited. I'm curious whether we can manage to use up the money by the time he graduates high school...