Lunch just took on a whole new level of importance for my 3 year old. His preschool has something called the "School Lunch Bunch" and children stay to dine with their pals two days per week. So he is officially using his lunchbox now and officially planning his lunches with LaLa Lunchbox. He's taking it _really_ seriously, too (naturally, this pleases me).

Today after pickup, he insisted that we review his choices for tomorrow and when we got home, he was excited to make it together immediately. Yipee! Now I can cross this off my list for later.

I'm thrilled about his choices because there's basically nothing for me to do but place the foods into containers. Yay! Last night I steamed an entire head of broccoli and we'll use it in various capacities for the next few days. Other than that, there's nothing cooked in this lunch and it's healthy, colorful and balanced. We cut the banana and apple into chunks and made them into kebabs for a little fun. My son revealed his plan to dip the banana apple kebabs into his yogurt (on the bottom of the container) and then danced around the apartment with joy thinking about it.

People sometimes ask me how I keep lunch fun and fresh... the truth is, I just keep it simple. My kids have a voice in their lunch and they're excited about that. Having lunch away from home is a new experience for my little guy, and I'm happy to provide him with the opportunity to feel in control over some aspect of it, to help him acclimate.