If you have a child, you might know the story “The Kissing Hand”. it’s about a raccoon headed for his first day of school. To help him conquer his fears, his mom kisses his palm, so he can look at it and be reminded that she loves him. We read the story again last night and I thought it made a perfect first day Bento!
Cream cheese and lemon curd sandwich (raisin bread insert for the heart), cheese, cherry tomatoes, edamame, carrots, a strawberry and a couple plums which I halved, pitted, and stuck back together with heart picks.
School dropoff was emotional (for me!). *He* was fine, smiling and happy the whole time. I don’t think he’ll need a reminder of the kissing hand at lunch. I’ve signed up for the PTA, filled out volunteer application, and hopefully was pleasant and friendly at the parents tea today. I’m hoping we can connect with other families of his friends better than at the old preschool, which was full of full time working and single parents that were just too busy to pursue play dates and such outside of class.
OK, well, I ended up doing one more because I had put aside a muffin and stuff already for this one.
Ham and pineapple skewers, lemon pepper for beans (in apple), oatmeal-raisin cookie, string cheese, ham and cheese corn muffin, green beans with a couple carrots stars.
What I learned: Kidlet didn’t like the cold corn muffin, even though he scarfed them when they were fresh and hot.  He ate the beans cold though. I expected it to be the other way around!
Probably the last practice bento — Kindergarten starting this week, so its the real thing next ;) I have a couple of days to go, but I’m not sure I’ll have the time to bento. Besides, Kidlet said “OOoh, I like this one the best! Can I have rocket lunches every day?” so I may end up having to make rocket sandwiches for a few days!
Ham and cheese rocket sandwich, blueberries, carrot stars and a black cherry tomato / cheese ring planet.
What I learned: It takes a LOT of blueberries to fill a 650ml box. I switched to a smaller one and left out the other planets and moon I had planned, so we’re a little veggie light.
Hard boiled egg, broccoli, sungold cherry tomatoes, sweet bell pepper flowers, fresh mozzarella balls. Lemon peper in the little soy sauce bottle (kidlet loves it on his eggs). Strawberries, ranch dressing, banana pound cake and a banana snake.
What I learned: I didn’t put enough lemon juice in the acidulated water and the bananas got dark. They were also pretty mushy by lunchtime. He didn’t like the pepper flowers, even though they were a nice sweet pepper from the farmers market that I think are delicious!
I should have bought some blueberries to plug the holes around the strawberries. You shouldn’t be able to see the bottom at all. Still, this is my favorite so far.
Blurry Picture today. After snapping the photo (and bento in process of being devoured) I discovered that the camera that I’ve been using for oh, I don’t know, but years anyway, has a focus setting for close ups. I’ll try that for the next one 😉
Jicama, carrots and celery. Honeydew and mango stars. Cream cheese and jam on whole wheat flatout rolls. I ended up having to give him a little bit of dip (duh!) so next time I’d likely leave out the celery so a dip cup would fit. As much as I like jicama, I’d never actually given it to the kidlet. He ate it all up.
What I learned:Â Jam rolls are disasterously messy. I may need an oshibori container for a damp cloth!Â
This is also a smaller box than I’ve been using (460ml instead of 650). This size is what is recommended for the 3-5 year old, but my 5 year old has quite a healthy appetite. He is used to eating a small snack between breakfast and lunch, and I’m guessing they don’t provide that in Kindergarten, so I’m worried he will be starving by lunch.
I’m having trouble controlling my bento spending habit. I don’t have the money to spare. But I keep getting sucked into the cute things. Especially adorable are the various soy sauce bottles. They don’t hold much; basically a single serving of soy sauce or vinegar, etc. Since the traditional japanese bento will have rice, etc, I guess soy sauce containers make sense. However, we aren’t eating traditional food in ours — just american style lunches, packed in the bento style. Soy sauce bottles are nearly useless to us (He does like lemon pepper as a seasoning, and I can put that in them, carefully. They make specific containers for shaking seasonings though).  But I have like 50 of them in from plain to some little animal lids and others in cute little shapes. They are usually very inexpensive, so its easy to justify to myself, but cheap doesn’t really matter if it won’t even be used! So I keep finding myself having to exert true willpower not to buy any more soy sauce bottles (or any other bento accessory for that matter). Although I will admit that if these little ribbon, crown and hat picks  were ever back in stock, I’d snap them up in a heart beat. I’ve seen folks using them in thier bentos and they are ridicuously adorable stuck in the top of an egg with a smily face, and so on!
Kindergarten looms ever closer. We visited the school  on Wednesday, for kindergarten assessment. We should find out a couple of days before he starts which classroom will be his. I have to wonder what exactly they were assessing since we weren’t allowed in the room. And what will they DO with the assessment? Do they sort out the kids putting all the bright ones together, etc or do they go for a balance? I’m already feeling like I need to protect the kidlet from some kind of judgement, which I know is silly!
Regardless that is done, his immunizations up to date, school supplies purchased (and we had to get the entire years worth of items, like EIGHT gluesticks, several boxes of crayons and so on right up front for the first day. It’s always some unexpected expense, isn’t it?), a few new clothes to replace the hopelessly stained and small ones I’ve weeded from the closet. Now I’m just waiting for word on his class so I can join the PTA, and working out more kinks for his lunches.
Ham & cheese skewers (the kidlet put those together; he is really enjoying the “fun lunches” and wanted to help), carrot flowers and boccoli, honeydew melon and oatmeal-cranberry animal crackers.
What I learned: One little grass baran couldn’t keep the moisture from the honeydew getting into the cookies and they ended up soft, but not so much they fell apart – kidlet still ate them. I’d put the crackers in a silicon cup next time.
In preparation for packing bento lunches (kidlet starts Kindergarten on the 10th!), I’ve been doing some practice runs. I’m learning to use the tools, how to really pack them tight. how MUCH to pack in there to suit his appetite, if certain traditional things will get eaten (like nori decorations), and so on.Â
The first one isn’t worth looking at, I promise you. This one is number 2. If I’d had lettuce to line the outside to make it look a little more packed, I would have and I think it would have looked better. But I had a flat tire this weekend and we missed the farmers market and I haven’t had the energy to drag both kids to the store (kidlet isn’t doing any more preschool now).
Ham and cheese dino sandwiches (ugly eye done with a food safe marker meant for coloring sugar cookies), little cheese suns, pluot, broccoli, cherry tomtoes that the kidlet grew on the porch this summer and ranch dressing in the apple container.
What I learned: 1. those little mayo cups don’t hold enough dip for that much broccoli. While I don’t think dip is especially great — if that is what it takes to get veggies in him, so be it. 2. Most small containers (ie gladware and such) are too tall for a bento box and all my bento specific condiment containers are as small or smaller than the apple 3. The food coloring eyes freaked him out and he ate all the dinos except for the heads which he left in the box (creepy!) 4. He prefers lightly to well cooked broccoli over raw. I’d have to have to spend time blanching vegetables every morning though, yipes.
This just isn’t my day. I’ve already screwed up my about page while trying to update it, and lost this post twice, when I thought I had it copied and in the buffer. Ah well. Too much work to re-do all those paragraphs, so I’ll paraphrase 😉
In an attempt to get out a little bit (I don’t have many friends and feel so isolated much of the time) and to get to spend a little more time scrapping (sometime I really enjoy but just don’t seem to have the time or space to do) I’ve joined a meetup group.Â
Right now the only scrapbooking I’m getting done at all is the baby scrapbook that was mostly done for me at my baby shower. Each attendant made a 2 page layout with a calendar on one side and the other side set up for pictures. I put the calendar up on the fridge and jot down notes daily as they come up — funny tidbits, milestones, activities and what not. Then I just have to get the photos, paste them in, do a little journalling and voila. On one hand, that is really great for getting it done. On the other, most of the attendees aren’t skilled croppers and the pages aren’t what I’d done myself. Plus, I don’t have the extra matching papers for framing photos or adding any extras.
So, even if I only make it to one monthly event, I should be able to get a few pages done. While much of my crafting materials are packed away in one of 10 large plastic bins, I do have a smaller, handled one with basic tools and such I created to have on hand for the baby year book. I can pick up some papers, add a few embellishments and my photos, and be off to crop in company!
Hanging in there at the moment. Baby L is nearing three months old, but still has no regular schedule, is incredibly demaning,  and won’t even sleep without human contact for very long. No matter how deeply asleep she seems, you set her down and in moments she’ll be stirring, fussing, and letting you know she isn’t happy at all. So my time is pretty well gobbled up.
It didn’t help that I had to go in and get my gall bladder taken out after I’d just barely healed from the c-section!
I am doing much better though, emotionally. Mom came while I worked with my doc on meds for the post partum depression, and while i recovered from the gall bladder removal. She’s been gone a week and a half and I haven’t lost it yet 😉
I’m having a rough time of it. Sleepless nights and colicky days. Sleep deprivation the likes of which I’ve never known (and I’m insomnia queen!). Post partum depression issues.  I’m on the edge of a major meltdown pretty much all the time.Â
I was inspired to healthy action a bit when discovering that not only did I lose all the baby weight that I gained, but also dropped down below my starting weight — the weight where I was stuck for a year. I keep thinking that maybe my body is ready to let me shed some pounds again. It’s difficult to stay feeling inspired when you are exhausted and depressed though, much less do anything about it. Even a trip to the store to stock up on good healthy food is a major undertaking with a newborn in tow. And mustering the energy to get on the treadmill while subsisting on a couple of catnaps proves to be impossible.Â
I’m working on getting enough water daily, while cutting out/back on sugary sodas and juices. I seem to be able to handle at least that.