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.

Every Lunchtime - A Shel Silverstein Day Lunch!

It's Shel Silverstein Day! My bento friends & I are paying a birthday tribute to the late great author, with a blog hop!  And there's a link-up at the bottom of the post for anyone who wants to join our Shelebration :)

My lunch was inspired by Every Lunchtime from Falling Up:

A snake in the lunchbox! It had to be done :)

My snake is made of cheddar cheese, with a ham tongue & beady sugar eyes glued on with honey. He's coiled atop a ham & cheese sandwich to match (& use the scraps). On the side a carrot snake slithers among green grapes & hisses (with alphabet bento picks), while more eyes peek out from the strawberries. And as usual, I found the perfect Lunchbox Love note:

And here's a look back at one of Pickle's PB sandwiches, an edible homage to The Missing Piece Meets the Big O. It was inspired by my friend Keitha's Storybook Lunches she makes her son, based on the books they read together. And I just happen to be linking to her in our blog hop :)

Click the sign below to hop over to Keitha's Chaos & see what my clever friend has made:

And here's one more look at my lunchbox snake - it cracks me up!

How will you Shelebrate?

"How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live 'em. How much love inside a friend? Depends how much you give 'em."

~ Shel Silverstein

A Bookish Bento for Roald Dahl Day

It's Roald Dahl Day tomorrow! In honour of the beloved author's birthday, some blogger friends & I are making Dahl-icious lunches & doing a blog hop! I made my Bella a bookish bento, with turkey & Asiago cheese tortilla books! I made Fantastic Mr. Fox, Esio Trot, Matilda, & The BFG:

The book sandwiches were super easy to make. I cut tortillas in rectangles & used food markers & stamps to make the covers. I cut cheese & turkey in smaller rectangles & stacked them for the pages, then folded the tortilla book covers around them. These were a big improvement on the ones I made for 2012's Dahl Day lunch.  I had come up with the whoppsy-whiffling idea for them just that morning, & only had cheddar & white bread. I've long been meaning to remake them with white cheese & brown bread, but Bella prefers sandwiches made with tortillas over bread - which worked out even better since tortillas are much easier to stamp & draw on!

I love how my new & improved edible books turned out! Here they are in my 6th grader Bella's EasyLunchbox. She also had some broccoli & grape tomatoes with a "Read" pick, & grapes with a chocolate bar pick - it's the 50th anniversary of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

And look, I had the perfect Lunchbox Love for Kids joke note to go with it :) Oh, I also tucked in a tiny pack of Wonka Gobstoppers ;) Hallowe'en candy!

Even the flip side of the Lunchbox Love note was just right :) I had a great foxy cloth napkin from Beneficial Bento too:

This book bento was such a fun lunchy use for my Stupendous Stampers :)

And in case you missed them, here are some of my sproutlets' splendiferous lunches from Dahl Days gone by :

 

2012's bento had elements from James & the Giant Peach, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, & Matilda. One of 2013's (above) was all James & the Giant Peach, & the other (below) was mostly the BFG, with a smidge of Danny the Champion of the World. 

Now, it's time to get jumpelling over to Robot Squirrel and the Monkeys to see what luctuous lunches Eileen has made:

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Some stuff used to make this bookish bento:

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! 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Today is Read Across America Day, & we're also remembering Dr. Seuss, the author & artist, whose birthday was yesterday!
"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child." ― Dr. Seuss ♥ 

I Seuss-ified Birdie's lunch:

• 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish cheese & Goldfish crackers
• Cat in the Hat striped Gala apple slices
• A Green egg & Ham, with a Crinklebine cupcake pick :)

And it's in a Cat in the Hat bento box!

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“I can read in red.
I can read in blue.
I can read in pickle color too.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

Pickle's PB sandwich is Sam's sign, from Green Eggs & Ham  :)

No green eggs & ham though. My picky Pickle would not could not eat them here nor there nor anywhere, so instead, I gave him green yogurt  :)

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Today's lunches are linked to the Bento Bloggers & Friends' Dr. Seuss Birthday Link Party!

I've got more Seussalicious blog posts!

Click here to see them all :)