A Brave New Lunch

Today was the first day that Bug tried out one of the new lunches. There were two new items for him to try - a treasure muffin and a mini babybel cheese round.

The treasure muffins I made by mixing banana nut muffin mix and blueberry muffin mix. I added some whey based protein powder and flax meal. In the middle they had a mix of applesauce and peanut butter and there was a little bit of peanut butter on top. In the future I won't add anything to the top as it tends to burn. They also turned out quite dense because of a (now fixed) issue with the oven. But, overall they turned out promising.

Bug eats American "cheese". So, we are hoping to work a new cheese or two into his repetoire. But, it has to be mild. So, I opted for a mini babybel round, the kind with the red wax. I ran across a pin on Pincrack where someone had taken one of these and carved it to look like a ladybug - genious! Here is how mine turned out:

The lunch also contained a small silicon cup of pear slices, another small silicon cup of banana slices, a snack sized baggie of popcorn, and a chocolate chip Z bar. He also has a snack break during the day and I figured that any of these components would make a great snack on its own.

Bug handed me his lunchbox when he got home from school and it was empty! I can't remember the last time he ate everything in his lunch. I think have small amounts of different fruits helped him in finishing off his fruit. I also think he liked having a small amount of multiple foods. We will play with this a bit.

He was ambivalent about the cheese, but has said he would try it at least a few more times to see if he can get used to it. He also commented about the blueberries in the treasure muffins - blueberries are on his NO list. I would proud that he ate it anyway and he has also said he will eat at least a few more. So far, so good!

After school Bug and I sat down to create a Food Word List. It gives him words like "citrusy" and "meaty" to help him describe what he is tasting (to move away from the ubiquitous "good" and "YUCK!"). It also has texture words. We are hoping this will enable him to start building a new relationship with his food. Now, he has to think about it almost like a puzzle or a mystery to solve and it will improve our understanding of what is going on in his mouth.

I am feeling very positive about all this right now!