Awesome Autism Day

April is National Autism Awareness Month in America,  & April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day.  Pickle calls it Awesome Autism Day :)   I packed him an awesome autism lunch with a special message:

I used tiny alphabet, heart, & puzzle piece shaped cookie cutters to say "I love you to pieces" with his peanut butter sandwich, & filled the heart shape with cupcake sprinkles in the colours of the Autism Awareness ribbon.  I froze some yogurt in a puzzle piece mold & nestled a piece in some plain yogurt - it holds it shape pretty well as it thaws. And I topped one of his favourite oatmeal muffins with some blue cupcake sprinkles - they're meant to be flowers but I think they look kind of like puzzle pieces :)

If you aren't a regular BentOnBetterLunches reader,  you might be thinking: Cute lunch, but so nutritionally unbalanced!  Maybe you even want to ask: Where are the fruits & vegetables?  The answer most days is:  On his dinner plate, pureed in pizza sauce. Rarely in his lunch box.  Why not?  Pickle has autism, & like many kids with ASDs, he takes picky eating to an extreme.  

Eating issues are very common among kids on the autism spectrum. 

The reasons for this are as diverse as the kids themselves.  Pickle has difficulty with food textures*. Graduating from purees to solids was a slow process that took patience, & help from his speech-language pathologist. And he still prefers softer solids - like peanut butter sandwiches :)

But a peanut butter sandwich every day ?!

Autism challenges us daily, turning simple tasks into a battle, so we try to choose our conflicts carefully.  Pickle's diet is just not something worth fighting over.  If he wants to have the same thing for lunch every day, that's okay.  I personally find it boring, but he seems to find it reassuring*.  So, to make packing the same thing every day less tedious, fun even, I challenged myself to make his sandwiches as many different ways as I could, & set a goal of 101 - and I did it! See all 101 peanut butter sandwiches here :)

I like to think that Pickle's lunches are something he looks forward to during his school day.  He loves to learn, but autism can make some aspects of going to school difficult. Sitting still, working quietly, & transitioning from one subject to another take a lot of effort for him, & the noise & crowds at recess & lunch can be overwhelming.  A familiar lunch is comforting :)

Pickle's Autism Awareness lunch is packed in our new Bentology containers. If the bento box design looks familiar, that's because Bentology is the evolution of one of our longtime favourite brands, Laptop Lunches! Bonus - we already had a spork that matches the new turquoise coloured lids :) And last but never least, I tucked in a Lunchbox Love note. I can always find one with the perfect sentiment ♥

                   

* Sensory Processing Disorder has a higher prevalence among children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
* Many people with autism have a strong preference for routines and sameness. - Autism, routines, & resistance to change.

A Pair of Puzzle Lunches

April is Autism Awareness Month in America. I packed puzzle themed bentos for Sprout & Pickle, the only two sproutlets who went to school today.

Sprout took her Yumbox, packed with yogurt, strawberries, grapes, graham stars, & a puzzle piece sweet I made with candy melts & my puzzle mold. Puzzle piece picks decorate the fruit, & blue blossom cupcake sprinkles top the yogurt - I think they look very puzzle-piece-ish :)

Lunch wouldn't be complete without a Lunchbox Love note! 

            

Pickle's puzzle lunch is packed in EasyLunchboxes. He has his usual peanut butter sandwich, cut with my Lunch Punch Match & Munch puzzle cutters, a Go-Gurt  & cookie, plus some blue gelatin in a leak-proof cup with lid, that fits perfectly in the medium section.

Each Lunchbox Love for Kids volume includes a couple of cards with one blank side so you can write your own message, like I did here.

The thing on Pickle's Go-Gurt is a Twixit bag clip. He & his little sister Birdie sometimes have a hard time tearing open their yogurt tube cleanly clean & they don't like it the feel of it when they tear it open jagged, so I have started cutting them with scissors at home then sealing them with a Twixit. The tiny 2¼" ones are the perfect size & easy for them to open!

            

Some of the stuff I used to make these lunches:

 

World Autism Awareness Day

April is National Autism Awareness Month in the USA, & April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day.  We're well aware of autism in our family;  our Pickle is one of the 1 in 54 American boys on the autism spectrum.

If we were home with our sandwich cutters I'd make my little man a puzzle lunch, but we're in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada, for Spring Break, so it will have to wait. I do have all month to make an Autism Awareness Lunch :) And look at all these fun puzzle piece tools I could use when I do!

   

   

• Lunch Punch Match & Munch Puzzle Shape Sandwich Cutters
• 4 inch Puzzle Piece Cookie Cutter
• Puzzle Piece Bento Food Picks
• Puzzle Silicone Baking Mold
• Munchkin Puzzle Piece Silly Sandwich Cutter
• Puzzle Bites Crustless Sandwich Cutter

       

 

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to items I own, use & like! 

I Love You To Pieces :)

Today is the last day of April, which has been Autism Awareness Month,  so I made my Pickle a puzzle sandwich with our beloved Lunch Punch Match & Munch cutters. When I serve him a puzzle sandwich at home I tell him I love him to pieces; I hope thinks of that when he gets one at school ♥

Sometimes I do mess them up though... like today... I left some of the puzzle tabs in the cutter! Too much peanut butter, bread too soft, in too much of a hurry? Who knows... and Pickle won't care! After all, perfect pieces don't taste any better than messy ones :)

Pickle also has yogurt with multicoloured star sprinkles, and an oatmeal cookie cut in quarters to fit the yubo cup. He'll like that, he'll count it as a puzzle, like he did when he did the same thing :)

Pickle's lunch was made with this stuff:

Every Day is Autism Awareness Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day. If you're a regular reader you know that my middle child, Pickle, has autism. Or is autistic. I never know which is the "right" way to describe him. Person with autism, autistic person, it's a subject of debate. If Pickle ever claims a preference, that's what I'll go with, but for now I vacillate between the two. The label makes no difference to me - he's just my Pickle, and he's awesome. Sometimes he acts or reacts differently than one might expect, and the label comes in handy as explanation. Sometimes it can be difficult being his parent, and the label gives me something to blame. Every day is autism awareness day for us. Every day we experience challenges, every day we learn something, every day we are amazed, and every day we love him more.

Pickle has a puzzle peanut butter sandwich for Autism Awareness Day, made with a Lunch Punch from the Match & Munch set. It's packed in his lego brick sandwich box, with a Hersey's Kisses chocolate, that I popped into the smaller lego brick container after the photo.

The puzzle piece is the recognized symbol for autism, and the blue Hershey's Kiss represents the "Light It Up Blue" campaign for autism awareness. 

Pickle painted that background for me, to use for my blog pictures, he said. I think he may have been inspired by the pattern on the scrapbook paper his sister's muffin tin meal is sitting on, below:

This "muffin tin meal" is actually served in a baby food freezer tray. It contains:

• cantaloupe puzzle pieces
• peanut butter sandwich puzzle pieces
• yogurt with blue sugar sprinkles
• baby carrots
• mandarin orange segments
• blueberry yogurt covered pretzels & a Hershey's Kiss

Check out my friend Jenn of Bento For Kidlet's fantastic post about her amazing kidlet, and his Autism Awareness Day lunch too :)

Some stuff used for these lunches: