Where we live it is very wet. It rains a lot, especially in the spring. We also live fairly close to a river, and to several small creeks, watershed areas, and watery ditches. So the fact that there are frogs all over here is not surprising!
Every evening when we go out for a walk we get to hear frog song. It's such a pretty, happy sound. The frogs singing to each other while most of the people settle in to rest. During the summer the frogs, night birds, and crickets seem to be competing, singing their happy hearts loud and clear for who listen.
One of the (many!) great things about living where we do is that any given day when we're working in the flower garden in the front yard, or taking a walk, or just hanging out outside, there is always a good chance we could see little frogs. The kids love that! They are always very careful not to disturb them when they sit and watch. A few times they have even 'rescued' frogs which had wandered into the road or sidewalk, by carefully scooping them up and carrying them back to the grass or flowers.
Ever since taking the dog on a walk and really noticing the frogs sing, Beaker has been semi-obsessed with frogs. Some of his froggy lunches from the last two weeks:
Froggy CuteZCute sandwich for preschool! The sandwich is made with allergen safe Udi's gluten-free bread, cheese, and turkey. His tongue is a strip of carrot, catching a little raisin 'fly'.
He also has a pair of gummy frogs, Ener-G allergen-safe pretzel rings, carrot coins, and raisins.
To round out the lunch, he has snap peas, blackberries, and pear chunks. Yum!
Another CuteZCute froggy sandwich, this time with ham and cheese on Udi's bread.
Cheese letters spell out RIBBIT, which Beaker says is frog for "Hello, you can eat me now."
For sides he has a little fruit 'salad' of cantaloupe and halved green and red grapes, cucumber chunks, Van's Multigrain crackers, popcorn, and a little cup filled with EnjoyLife allergen free chocolate chips and roasted sunflower seeds.
And on another day he took this very simple lunch for preschool.
He has Tings, snap peas, blackberries and strawberries in the bottom layer of this two tier bento box. In the top layer he has cucumber slices, gummy frogs, and ham-and-cheese rolls. For snack he took a Mini Dipper full of sunflower butter, some rice crackers, and a few roasted plantain chips.
Absolutely adorable!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteSo cute! Love the tongue :-)
ReplyDeleteSo glad I found you! My son has a frog obsession and similar allergies to your son. I love your creativity and new ideas. Due to his allergies and pickiness due to them, I have been "Bentoing" for 6 years and always on the lookout for fresh creative lunch combinations and products. With the new school year starting next week I am searching for ideas and I am so inspired by you! Thank you! By the way, i found the frog gummies on Amazon, they are called Albanese Rainforest Gummi Frogs and they say they are produced in a factory with peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat and milk. I'm not sure how allergic your son is but we are unable to eat things that may have been cross contaminated.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more of your great ideas!
Steph
oceandogs@aol.com
Yes, the gummi frogs do have a cross contamination warning, so be careful! We are very lucky that Beaker's nut allergy is mild - CC doesn't affect him at all, thankfully. After extensive trials we have found that the only nut he reacts to when consumed directly is hazelnuts. We are still very careful with nuts and peanuts, just to be on the safe side, but having the option of opening his diet up a little and allowing the items with possible cross contamination in has been a huge help. He also recently passed a soy challenge, and that has been a HUGE help!
DeleteI hope that I'm able to help with lunch ideas for your kiddo in some way!!