Nugget's Lunch - August 29, 2008

(clockwise from upperleft) White nectarines, peeled and sliced. Three shortbread cookies with apricot and raspberry filling. Raisins. A fork for the nectarines, and spoon for the corn. Canned corn. Grape tomatoes. Cinnamon-raisin mini-bagel, sliced and spread with Neufchâtel. Special surprise: a plastic snake (not pictured) that I nestled in with the tomatoes. Drink: 60/40 water/applejuice.

A couple notes about some of the items...

I love the look of the white nectarines! The reddish pink on the white flesh is just beautiful. Nugget has not tried white nectarines in a long, long time, so I gave him a small bite this morning and explained what it was. He said they tasted just like peaches. But of course they do! Poking around a bit on various agricultural Extension websites and then Wikicanthisbetrustedapedia, I learned that peaches and nectarines are the exact same genus and species, Prunus persica. The nectarine simply does not have fuzz. Maybe you knew that, but did you know that, according to this excerpt, nectarines are the result of recessive genes and peaches from dominant genes?

Vegetables are a food item I find a little harder to incorporate into lunches, even though I still manage to do it. It seems like I resort to the same couple vegetables (corn, sweet potatoes, lots of bell peppers, carrots, green beans and peas). I am not a big fan of broccoli and cauliflower even though I do use them sometimes; it's not that I don't like them, it's that I don't feel like I can ever really get the raw ones clean. Other veggies, you can scrub and feel good about reaching the nooks and crannies. But broccoli and cauliflower - and particularly Romenesco - you have a seemingly never-ending food fractal showcase for bacteria. And mind you, I have a friendly relationship with bacteria in the "keep your friends close but your enemies closer" kind of way, meaning the only anti-bacterial anything in our home is the soap we reserve for use only after touching raw meat. Other than that, it's plain old soap for the hands, the hair, the toilet, the tub. But the bacteria (e.coli, salmonella) on food, organic or not, that can put my children straight into the hospital for days? No thanks. Talk about the heebie-jeebies. And wash the outsides of those watermelons prior to slicing them, folks!

Hmmm. Seemed to have veered off topic there. Anyway, one more thing I wanted to add is that it did not occur to me until after I sent the lunch that I probably should not have nestled the plastic toy snake in with the grape tomatoes. With all the talk of things that can leech out of plastic, it made me think twice, albeit too late to do anything about it. Then again, none of the food or plastic is hot. I guess I'm undecided on that one, but suspect it is okay and also suspect that I will keep occassionally putting small toys in his lunchbox, maybe just not nestled into the food.

Nugget's Lunch - August 28, 2008

(clockwise from upperleft) Yellow bell pepper. Fresh ripe tomatoes from our neighbor's garden, mixed with carrot bits and a tiny sprinkling of fresh ground black pepper and sea salt. A hard-boiled, pre-peeled (can you believe they are sold that way? hello, time saver!) egg from Trader Joe's (TJ's), Neufchâtel, shortbread cookies - one with apricot filling, one with raspberry filling, a cinnamon raisin mini-bagel, and two 3-D illusion dinosaur stickers. Drink: 60/40 water/applejuice.

I included a tiny IKEA metal spoon, which you can hardly see underneath the frog-fork, to spread the Neufchâtel since I didn't think the school would want me sending a knife (even in the form of a dull spreader).

As I mentioned in my last post, which was written just minutes before this one, the school nurse checked on Nugget at lunch today and said he did much better and did not try to keep himself isolated during the cafeteria time.

First Day of Kindergarten Lunch! - August 27, 2008

(clockwise from upperleft) Yellow watermelon, which I didn't even know existed until we tried it at Trader Joe's (TJ's) and Irena (the best-est demo lady ever!) explained it's been around for years. TJ's honeyed sesame sticks, TJ's triple ginger cookies. A spiderman fork, which is sitting on top of four little bite-sized pieces of mint flavored Zone Perfect bar. I added the almost half Zone Perfect bar because I knew he would eat it first, and I wasn't sure how he would manage his time allotment during lunch. Pineapple mixed with cubes of Niman Ranch's cured ham steak (it is $9.98/lb on their website, but $5.49/lb at TJ's, which is cheaper than the deli meat I usually buy at the grocery store). Full-size carrots, which I now take the two minutes to peel and cut after reading this article in May - and yes, I do notice a difference now compared to the baby carrots! Red seedless grapes. Drink: 60/40 water/applejuice.

Lastly, a note to Nugget, letting him know I was thinking about him on his first day ( I was limited to what I could write - there are very few words he can read), and a spiderman napkin lovingly hemmed by his Oma (dutch for grandmother).

Wow - my son's first real day of Kindergarten! Lunch Nugget is back up and running. Some folks have wondered in the past about "trading lunches", sharing, or other methods school children use to get rid of their own food and obtain the food of others. Something that has changed, at least in Kindergarten, is the ongoing emphasis that NO ONE shares food - ever - and you only eat the food that is yours. The nurse even visits every class on the first day before lunch to talk about food allergies to the class.

At home, we have been talking to Nugget about managing his tree-nut allergy while at school, and how important it is never to eat anyone else's food. Since he had a scary and severe reaction last year, and he vividly remembers it, he took our words to heart both at home and at school. The only thing is, he was so concerned the first day in the cafeteria (also his first experience in a cafeteria setting), that he sadly isolated himself from the other students, telling a teacher he "didn't want to get allergic." The teacher reported he told her that very kindly when she suggested he move closer to classmates, but he was too concerned to be comfortable next to a classmate. Keep in mind, his allergy is not airborne and we have emphasized he can sit next to others - I think it was all just a little overwhelming for him. When I learned about his first lunch experience, it just tugged at my heart.

I am so grateful the teacher, school nurse, and cafeteria manager work so closely together, and seem to communicate openly and regularly with each other and with the parents. I had no idea what to expect prior to actually experiencing firsthand being a parent of a Kindergartner. Unprompted, the school nurse told me she checked on Nugget during lunch today, encouraged him to sit closer to classmates, and he seemed to be a little more comfortable than the day before.

I'll add as a side note that for all the parents of allergic children, depending on your school policy, there are a number of extra forms you will need to have filled out in addition to pharmacy-labeled medications and a number of extra snacks/desserts/treats for the school nurse to keep in her freezer for celebrations. One of the reasons this entry has taken me longer to post is that I was unprepared for the hours trekking back and forth between doctors, allergists, pharmacy and school to have everything in order "just in case." Thankfully, it is done and hopefully entirely unneccesary!