Yesterday when she brought her out to the car, Sabrina's teacher told me that she isn't sure Sabrina is really enjoying the sandwiches- that she pulls the turkey out and just picks at her lunch. Her teacher is so sweet and I could tell she was trying to be tactful. The thing is, I know this. My once non-picky eater has changed recently into one of
those kids. The picky ones. She wants the crusts cut off her sandwiches, but she doesn't really even eat the bread. She likes cheese, but not
on her sandwich. She will pick it off and not eat it, but if the cheese is served separately, she will eat it. She doesn't like peanut butter or jelly. She doesn't like soup or virtually anything with a sauce. The sauce thing is actually a lifelong dislike. Even as a baby, she wouldn't eat anything that got her hands messy. She likes fruit and veggies, but even the ones she loves, she will only eat sporadically. On top of that, she is used to eating lunch around 1:00. At school, she eats no later than 11:30, which is usually only 2 1/2 hours after she finishes breakfast. I'm pretty sure she's not even hungry by then.
I'm dealing with the lunches the same way we deal with dinners. You get what you get. I try to make sure I'm serving things she wants, but if she chooses not to eat, that's fine. She doesn't get anything else. And she's fine with this. Most nights lately, she takes one bite of everything (that is our only rule- a "good manners" bite of each thing) and asks to be excused. She knows she doesn't get anything else and doesn't try to push it.
So, I knew that she wouldn't be eating much, but I still feel a little disappointed. We decide together what's going in her lunch box, so aside from that, I am not sure what to do. For today, we decided to make a sandwich out of a whole wheat bagel. She eats a bagel at least one morning a week, so I know she likes them. I put a pink marshmallow in the center and trimmed the edges to look like petals. A cheese stick makes the stem. She asked for sliced apples (dipped in pineapple juice to keep them from turning brown), and we used the butterfly clip we made together on a bag of pretzels. (And, maybe I should wake her up and give her breakfast at 6 am?)
