A Dagwood Defeat

16 days left....

I pack Sean's lunch this morning and think....

32 granola bars.  16 bags of carrots.  32 Hershey Kisses.

Over the years, little has changed.  Bottle of water, 2 granola bars - 1 crunchy, 1 chewy, 2 Hershey Kisses, a bag of pretzels, a container of Wheat Thins, and a clementine/orange.

Sean may go through a phase where he wants a French roll, a bag of spinach, or...the ultimate challenge for me.... a ham sandwich.

I think he finishes most of his lunch.  Years ago I got a call from school saying that he was tossing his sandwich every day.

Yep... EVERY DAY!

I have a strict rule with the kids.  Anything uneaten has to come home.  I simply want to know.

You can say I'm a control freak... but I'm a mom.  I think the terms are interchangeable.

But back to the sandwich....

Sean has a 'thing' when it comes to sandwiches.  Actually, he has so many 'things' that I have given up on trying to appease him.

He was never a sandwich kid when he was little.  I don't think he liked the texture of the bread and sliced meat simply grossed him out.

I remember one day buying a variety of luncheon meats and breads at the store.  I was going to have the ultimate sandwich taste-off.

Fail.  Fail.  Fail.

A growing boy can only survive so long without a sandwich for lunch, right?  A few years ago I insisted that Sean begin taking a sandwich.  He does, after all, eat sandwiches on camp outs with the Boy Scouts.

I don't go through all that much bread and with the weather out here, things tend to mold fast, so I freeze my loaves.  I bring out a piece or two, make the frozen sandwich, and by lunchtime at school it's all good.

While I wrote "make the frozen sandwich".... for Sean, it's much more than slapping a piece of ham between two pieces of Wonder. 

No crusts....

OK, most kids are like that...

No meat over the sides.  EVER.

You might think, "Hey, cut the crusts off and you'll be fine."  But, no....  that would leave the meat too close to the edge.  It might pop out and then Sean would literally have to gag.

Yep... literally... the kid has an amazing reflex!

Thus, most mornings you would find me cutting up the slice of ham and placing the pieces on the bread like I was playing a game of Tetras.

All for my kid.

And then the call came.

Sean was tossing them out.

At least it was better than the note home I received one day informing me that Sean threw out his sandwich because he thought the bread was moldy.

I was mortified.

And it was a brand new loaf.  I thought I would try something different and give him a treat - fresh bread.

I should have known better.  I really should have....

But alas, after this latest ongoing toss-fest that he was having with our grocery budget, I decided to call it quits.

No more sandwich.

The mommy guilt was definitely present.  How could I?  I'm starving my child...  But I have to be realistic.  The kid simply doesn't want a sandwich from mom.

Oh, well....

This battle is over.  Sean has won.  I will take my Wonder and head back into the kitchen.  Defeated.

And then I go into Sean's room this morning.  I spy a pile of dirty clothes stuffed in the corner.

I know my memory is failing, but did I not ask Sean to gather his clothes before school today so I can do laundry?

Hmmm.....

Sean may have won the Battle of the Bread but I will win this war.

Game on.  Bring it!