WFLW - "C is for Clifford"

At Z's new drop-off preschool, they sent out the year's curriculum in advance, which for me is awesome, since I can plan little Tot School activities to go along with what they're doing, plus I have built-in bento and MTM inspirations!

C - Clifford

PBHoney "Clifford," Cinnamon Cupcake, Cheese bone w/C,
Carrot Coins, Blueberries.

I was super excited that I had the time to make this lunch, since lately we've been sleeping in, or just rushed for whatever reason. I did have to skip making myself a lunch, but I was able to console myself with some McFattening food and a Sweet Tea while she was at school.
In an EasyLunchBox (I used a red lid, since it was also 'wear red to school' day to celebrate Clifford Week,) I made her peanut-butter-honey sandwich in a dog shape with a cookie cutter (she later pointed out that "cookie" and "cutter" both start with a "C.") If I had been thinking, I would have put a sugar eye on it, since it's cute and she loves them. I didn't want to bother painting the bread red, since it would have taken forever with my food writer, and I was too lazy to mix up some food coloring water and find my food brush. I've seen someone using some kind of spray-on food coloring, (available with baking supplies) for use on cakes, but I don't have any. Yet.

I put a Hostess 100-calorie-pack mini Cinnamon Coffee Cake (33 calories, 3/package) in a mini muffin liner. She likes the cinnamon ones more than the frosted cupcakes, plus there were more Cs!

I used a bone-shaped cutter for the mozzarella, and my bento letter C with Colby Jack. I had planned on making more Cs, but it was such a PITA to get it out of the cutter without breaking it (my cheese was sliced too thick. And this was my second attempt at a C that day already.)

And while "Carrot Coins" have more Cs than "Carrot Flowers" she eats more when they're cut into flower shapes. So I called them Carrot Coin Carnations just to stick with the program.

I have no excuse for the blueberries. They were pretty much our only fruit option, and we want to use them up before they go bad. Plus I couldn't think of any "C" fruits.

She ate her lunch in the car on the way from gym class to preschool ("Miss Clarey starts with a C!") and ate some leftovers from it after school. She also refused to wear any red, and insisted upon a short-sleeved shirt, despite the cold weather. I forced her to wear red Elmo socks (Target Dollar Spot) so she wouldn't get upset being the only one with no red for "red day," but busted out the new sparkly pink Sketchers light-up Twinkle Toes shoes I'd been saving for a fun surprise. (They were great fun at the Puyallup Fair later that day, and the Weird Al concert that night! The flashing lights when she walked made it easy to keep track of her too!)

She ate some carrots, the cheese, and the cupcake thing, and maybe a few bites of sandwich. After school, she ate more sandwich and some carrots and berries. She finished off the carrots the next day when I busted them out with dinner. The berries didn't survive the long night left in the car (by accident.)

I had her identify the "C" foods, and did pretty well. She said that "bone" doesn't start with a "C," so I got to explain that "cheese" did. She also pointed out that "dog" wasn't a "C" word, but accepted that "Clifford" was. And then insisted that the sandwich wasn't a dog like Clifford. No. It was a dinosaur. Rawr. And then she proceeded to be adorable and play with it and have it roar and stomp all over her lunch, then had it cry for help as it was being eaten.
She was very pleased to 'sound out' more "C" words - C-C-Sandwich! (Since it has a sss sound like cinnamon and celery.) She also tells me that cat starts with "K." But I'm just thrilled that she's thinking about the sounds, rather than just memorizing the standard "a is for apple, b is for ball," etc.

*I would like to note that due to the muffin liner this isn't a "waste-free" lunch, but the paper liners are compostable (my waste services lets me put compost and food waste in with my yard waste, so we started doing that.) [The foil-lined baking cups and plastic-coated paper bento cups are not compostable or recyclable, however.]
Right now it's a non-issue, since she always eats with me, but later I plan to have her bring all her waste and scraps back. That way I can compost or re-use leftovers (like some of the uneaten veggies and fruit,) and get an overall sense of what she's eating. Plus the leftovers make a handy after-school snack! And she won't be in the habit of throwing things out, so I'm less likely to lose bento picks, silicone muffin cups, sauce containers, etc.