What to Pack Your Child for Lunch

Okay, now that we have the right containers, we need to know what to pack in them. I am sure many moms have picky eaters and resort to the staple packed lunch: a sandwich, crusts cut off; chips, cookie, Capri Sun or some other juice wanna be. Out of that menu, the only healthy thing is the meat/PB and the wheat bread. The rest is junk and it cannot sustain your kids for the next 3-4 hours of school, which explains why so many kids come home and want to devour the kitchen. It ain't school that made them hungry, it was their nutrient deficient lunch. And if you need convincing as to why the cafeteria is a bad deal, check out Jamie Oliver's website. He has lots of great information. So now I will get off my soap (lunch) box and head into what you could pack...

Kraftfoods has some ideas which is where I got this photo of my favorite thing to pack, the tortilla wrap. So check out their link. This is another great link of food packing ideas.

The main things I try to get into every lunch box are 1) A whole grain 2) A calcium source 3) Fruit and/or vegetable 4)Protein. I structure the lunches by making sure I hit those areas and limit sugar and unnecessary calories. Some of my favorite protein sources are lean lunchmeat, hard boiled egg, cheese sticks, sliced almonds on a salad, diced chicken and ham chunks, and yogurt. Were you aware that Target's deli section (with the pre-made sandwiches) sells lunch and snack boxes of whole grain crackers, cheese and meat, and grapes. It is a much healthier version of a Lunchable and about the same price, sometimes less. I like to have that be my easy lunch of the week, add a water bottle and you are ready to go! As an every once in awhile treat, I will put in a rice krispie treat or one of these cookies:

These babies pack whole grains, protein, AND fiber in just one cookie. If your school allows peanut products, give these a try!
I like to put these in as drinks, (non flavored!) but they are pricey...so that is why I will be using the water bottles this year to send milk in. I will not list a whole bunch of things you could send in your kids lunch, as you can google that for yourselves! But I will give you some of Isaac's favs:

*Salads- I put spinach and romaine together with shredded carrots, almonds, and sometimes celery

*Tortilla wraps, I have put all kinds of things in these

* Sandwiches of all kinds

*crackers with hummus and sliced veggies

*Ham and cheese kabobs on toothpicks

*Cold pasta salad

*Morningstar Farms mini corn dogs in a thermos

*granola bars

*apples

*banana bread

Hope this post and the links inspire you to pack a good lunch for your kids! Make a list of their favorites and put it on an inside cabinet in the kitchen so you will know what to get at the store.

Update on J

Sorry I worried some of you with my lack of posting. Things around here are going just wonderful, but I have been very, very busy with 3 kids. The dishes in the sink can attest to that. Isaac and J have enjoyed some good brother time. They take baths together now so that is a sweet time for them to laugh and splash. Isaac is so protective of him, he tells Vivi not to tattle on him and when we have to leave him at his CPS visits for an hour a week-Isaac gets very preoccupied about when we are coming back to get him!
B-Ball with your brother...fun times!

We have been working tirelessly on bonding and attachment. The books I mentioned in previous posts have come in real handy. They have helped to guide me in the notion of attachment parenting and carrying the burdens of your hurt child. J does not exhibit behaviors of a grieving child, but we can see that he has experienced much in his little life. He is head strong and independent, but takes guidance like a real champ. One way we really nurture him is by parenting him to sleep. Here is a picture of our routine.

It involves one of his stuffed animals, his blanket, several books that we repeat every night, his sippy cup with a soft spout to simulate a bottle being sucked, and his nightlight. Oh...and of course the rocking chair. Some nights he protests a little, but other nights while I am putting the other two to bed I will come out and find him in the chair ready to go. At first he fell asleep right away, but now both naps and nighttime are becoming a struggle. He is so wired and will not shut down. So we rock for a little while, read our books, drink our cup and then head on into the bunk beds. I will lay with him for awhile and then try to slip away. Sometimes he falls asleep but tonight he kept saying "Mom, mom, mom, mom" until I came. Then he patted the bed for me to lay down. It is sweet that he wants me there. He had a night terror the other night and I had to rock him for an hour to get him to settle down. But it was a sweet time. He is beginning to really trust me and will hold out his arms for me to pick him up. He still doesn't give affection, we are working on that. I thought I might list some of the things I have learned from parenting J...you can't get these from a book necessarily, some of it is just learning your child and being in tune to them and not what the world thinks a 2 year old should do or be. I think it is important to note that not all of these are appropriate for a child parented from birth. If I did these to Vivi, it could easily turn her into a clingly ,demanding child which is not good for her sense of autonomy. These techniques are for a child over the age of one entering their family.

*Like I said, we parent him to sleep...so that he can get what he may have missed out on as a baby. This sometimes takes 2 hours, but I know it is worth it for him.

*We work on showing affection by kissing and hugging inanimate objects, then asking him to do it which he will. But he will not kiss or hug us yet. I have noticed if Vivi has a booboo and draws attention to it, he will find marks on his legs (there are lots to choose from) and want me to kiss it. If she gets a bandaid on her hand for instance, he wants one on the same hand. This gives me the opportunity several times a day to kiss it and say "Oh J has a booboo, Mommy will make it better." He seems to like this.

*If he asks for food, we almost always give it- even if it is at an inconvenient time or right before a meal. He eats a lot and we don't want him to get the idea that we withhold food. A full belly gives him a sense of peace and well being to his little body and we want him to know what it feels like to be filled up, both by food and by love. We always sit with him when he eats. We do not offer a lot of sweets however. Good, nutritious food will make him feel satisfied longer.

*I carry him when I can (he is a hefty one!) so that he gets used to my arms around him.

*When he tantrums or does something that hurts someone, we do "time-ins" where he sits on our lap on the floor and we gently hold him while he rages. He is very easy going and usually only fusses for a minute or two. Then we are able to comfort him and re-instruct..."We do not kick dogs in this family. No sir!", for instance.

* We talk to him and say his name ALL the time. His language is behind so we are hoping to give him those words. We make eye contact and smile a lot. We want him to see our eyes light up when he comes in the room.

*Another great way to aide in bonding is a play dr. kit. We use our toy medical kit atleast twice a day. He loves it.

*I always ask for hugs, and he never gives me one. But I know the day will come when he comes crashing into my waiting arms. That moment will be all the more sweeter knowing the road it took us to get there.

*He calls out for me many, many times a day and I always answer him and come right away or call him to me if I cannot come. He needs to know that Mom is here and will be here. This is bigtime progress as he used to not request anything from me at all. Oh and he smiles now when I enter the room. That is huge.
*We always eat our meals together as a family. He has come to highly anticipate this and will get in his chair long before the meal is ready to be served!

That is all I can think of right now. I am tired...very tired. But this is such a sweet time for our family. We feel beyond lucky to have this little boy home and are very blessed by your support and care for us during this time. We can't wait for everyone to meet him. He is a blessing from Heaven that keeps getting better every day as we fall deeper in love with him and he us. We will not guard our hearts or hold back in our falling head over heels for him just in case we may lose him. He deserves to have a committed family that will see him through the tough times, love him without expecting anything in return, and fight for his rights and best interest. We are just the family God has called to that challenge. I feel like being called to be the mother of these children is the greatest honor of my life. I hope to make them proud.

Picking the Right Containers...GO green!

Per the request of Brandi whose daughter also starts kindergarten in the fall, I will begin my annual Back 2 School posts. This first series will be about packing a healthy lunch for your child.

To avoid this:
(what is the sugar packet for? Is that tea?!!)

Or this:

(can I get a collective, "ewwww"?)

I will be doing this:

Minus the white bread, I will be packing my kids lunches.

This is called a "bento box". We don't have this, but I love it! I may be watching the sales at our local Pottery Barn Kids where these beauties are sold for $14 each, along with this genius way to avoid gobs of plastic cutlery:

They call these their Spencer Utensils.
I especially love the containers they come in.

Shipping is currently free on these two, just for your information...or you know, grandparents or aunts that might want to purchase these for their adorable just-about-to start kindergarten grandson/nephew...not that I know anyone like that. ;)

Moving on...

Here are our current containers we used last year. I love the idea of going green with our lunches this year, not because I am a huge environmentalist...but because my 5 year old son is. He is constantly telling me to recycle stuff and he even wanted us to find a way to "reuse" my broken flip flop yesterday. What? I had to gently turn down his offer. He is known to pick up trash at the park and promptly walk it to the nearest trash receptacle mumbling about littering and treating the earth with respect. I am not kidding you, he does this. And he was enraptured with the back of our Sun Chips bag where it showed how the bag is compostable. So to appease his little green heart, I eliminate plastic sandwich bags and snack bags by using containers. But I love how some really talented Momma's on Etsy hand make reusable cloth baggies that velcro. Click on that link to see what I am talking about. Those things are SO cool. They are on my mental list of things I want.

Today I purchased the following:

This is a cute little salad container. It has an icepack and a container that opens to pour dressing on.

I had the worst time packing him salads last year as none of my containers worked right or fit right in his lunchbox. So this was a gem to find.

And what I am most excited about is this found at Kroger for $12.

It is a plastic tray of BPA free reusable bottles. You fill them up and stick them in the fridge then just pop them in the lunch box each day and wash them all together at the end of the week. They are little and decorated attractively. Isaac drinks OJ for breakfast and milk for dinner, so I don't want him having juice boxes every day in his lunch. This allows me to water down his juice, send just water, or milk. They also come in girl colors. I love how they have to convice you to buy these. :)

It worked.

So stay tuned for my post on "What to Pack".

Our Services Are All On The Calendar!!

I am so relieved to say that all of J's services have been set up!!! Today we went to the Dr. and he weighs 31.5 pounds. We weighed Vivi and she was 31.9 lbs. She is half a head taller and 9 months older than J...so that tells you he is a solid boy. She said he looks great but has eczema. I knew that. Aveeno 3 times a day has become our best friend. Other than that it was uneventful. Oh...except for the fact that the intake ladies could not figure out how I was "related" to J. "Are you his grandmother?" seriously? At almost 32, do I look that old? "No, I am his kinship foster mother." "So how are you related to him?" "My adopted son is his biological brother." "So you are not a kinship placement?" "Yes I am." "But you are not related" "My son, who shares my last name, is his brother." "Oh." Then to each other "so she's not kinship." Oh good grief! Pointing out that my name is in print on an official document that says "Placement Authorization Verified Kinship Foster Caregiver" did not convince them, apparently. Sheesh.

Tomorrow is our WIC appt. If you click on that link you can see what the shopping lists are that WIC qualified families get. This stands for Women, Infants, and Children and includes kids up to age 5 who are low income or in foster care. In October, they revamped their entire program to include fresh and frozen fruits and veggies, wheat bread, and low fat milk and cheese. We will also get cereals and fruit juice. And instead of the embarrassing checks we used to have to turn in for our foster babies formula, WIC now does a debit-like card that you swipe and they load your food credits onto it for the month. You purchase your allotted quantities and reload it every month at the WIC office. I am so excited about this because with the way this child eats, we will be needing some assistance in the grocery department around here! I absolutely recommend that all foster parents of kids under 5 take part in this program. Even if you think you make enough money to provide for all of their needs, every little bit helps...and you just have to swallow your pride about using "government assistance" and know that your child(ren) from foster care have a right to this program. And imagine all the great things you can do with them to bond as a family with the money you save on groceries! So call and sign them up!! Okay...that is my WIC plug.

So the last two services that I needed to set up for J were ECI for speech therapy and his dental appt. I am happy to have gotten the call back from ECI and they are coming out here next Tuesday to do his assessment. That will likely result in a speech therapist coming to our home once a week until he is developmentally on track for his age and abilities.

The dental appointment was proving to be very frustrating. You all know how far out you have to book these types of appointments, add that to the fact that I had to find a pediatric dentist that takes Medicaid...not easy people. So we got put on the waitlist at Isaac and Viv's. Then I mentioned to the Dr. this morning that I wanted him seen as soon as possible so she gave me the number to our big city Children's Hospital. They gave me an August 24th appt. Not good enough. So I remembered that my friend gave me the name of a dentist who accepts Medicaid and I thought what the heck. So I called there and they have the cutest website and western themed office, the nicest receptionists of any office I have ever called, and best of all can get him in next Monday!!! I told them about his cavities and she said "bless his little heart." awww. I am so pumped, ya'll! His teeth are yellowed and crusty in places. They just look bad. I cannot wait to get him in there!

So now I am off to email his service dates to the caseworker and attorney. I am just a rock star today, and it's only Monday! :) Woohoo!!!

J~ Q & A

I have gotten many questions since J came home (here, email, and through facebook) that I have not had the time to answer until now. I thought I would post them here...let me know if I forgot yours or if you think of anything else.

How are Isaac and Vivi handling a new brother and does Isaac notice similarities between him and J?

They are doing great! They have been a little clingy at times with the amount of attention that J requires from us. But we just try to love on them too and continue our special times of reading and board games that they love when J is asleep. Vivi has found a real companion in him and playmate. Today at church, my friend said she saw them in the hallway and J raced ahead of the classmates to hold Vivi's hand. Awww! Isaac has not said anything about the similarities. I'm not sure he would really know what they are. But Vivi did say when J came home "Look, Mommy he matches Isaac! Brown!" Cuteness. We have noticed their headshape is similar, their skin tone is identical, and they both have big round bellies, and they both sweat a whole lot when they are upset! They also have some behavioral similarities. But in many ways they are very different.

Will you be able to adopt him?

We do not know if he will be available for adoption. It is contigent upon either a) his birthmother working her service plan and getting him back or b) she chooses to relinquish her rights or c) the court chooses to terminate her rights. At that time (atleast 6 months from now) he would be available to us to adopt him. We of course are praying for this outcome as we know returning to any of his birthfamily would not be in his best interest based on family history. He was being raised all along by his maternal grandmother anyway, and she is not eligible for placement. His caseworker along with the attorney ad litem (who we met when she came over today) both agree with the fact that going back would not be a good plan for him at any time, but are required to give her a chance. So only time will tell.

Are you required to get permission for all foster children to receive haircuts?

yes. Many times CPS will ask the parents for permission unless it is an issue of grooming or health (like in the case of lice). You typically only need permission once and then you can continue to get it cut at your own descretion unless otherwise dictated by the caseworker.

What do you need? What size is he wearing?

We are always humbled every single time we are asked this. That people would want to love on this child in a tangible way, blesses us beyond words. We are on a tight budget with one income and now 3 kids, but we feel that the Lord has blessed us in every single area of need...even if we have to forsake many wants. He sometimes uses other people to provide for us and that is a joy that never goes unappreciated. Giftcards are a double blessing because things J needs kind of come out of nowhere...like this weekend it was shoes, sippy cups, and undershirts! He is wearing size 3T and size 8 shoes. We will have a huge need for fall/winter clothes in the coming months. If you know anyone wanting to pass on their boys gently worn 3T's, we are so grateful for hand-me-downs too!

Do you have any suggestions for bonding and attachment of an older toddler?

Yes! Lots, as you can tell from previous posts. Read The Connected Child, Toddler Adoption, and Attaching in Adoption and we will talk in a further post on this topic! But for now...use common sense and always, always put their needs above what you think a typical (insert age) child should be doing, acting like, or saying. You can't ever go wrong erring on the side of compassion, because you just do not know what this child has seen and heard and felt in his/her little life. But do not allow them to mistreat you, your pets, or your children. That is not okay. We are dealing with all 3 right now in minor ways.

Why can't you post his face on the blog or talk about why he came into care?

It is one of the rules of CPS. These children are wards of the state at this point and their personal information including what they look like and their names cannot be broadcast in a public forum. The main concern being that their birthfamily could stumble across it.

What is kinship placement?

It is when CPS chooses to place a child in a relatives home while the parents are given a chance to work their service plan to regain custody. Kinship parents do not receive a monthly stipend from the state, but the child is still on Medicaid and qualifies for WIC (which I will explain this next week). As a kinship placement, we do not have a lot of the hoops to jump through as foster parents do. We do not have to document medication, lock it up, or take training classes. We do not have to submit progress reports on the child. It is so much easier then when we were foster parents. SO much easier. I will be emailing lots of pictures and little fun stories to his caseworker, attorney, and CASA though because I think it really helps them to see how he is doing with us.

Okay...that does it, I think! Leave me a comment if you are wondering anything else!

Our Weekend

We went to church today and J did great! He was allowed to be in Vivi's class and they said he was just fine. We came back early to check on him and they were on the playground. I couldn't resist capturing these pictures through the window of Vivi and her favorite game, Ring Around the Rosie. These two did this for atleast 7 rounds! It was so adorable. There is just something about little girls in dresses.

And here is just another adorable shot of my daughter!

Ok, I'm done for now.
J was in need of some shoes in a BIG way.
I couldn't resist these flip flops to match the ones brother has...

And here is our little guy enjoying his first weekend home~