Twice a month, Tobin participates in lunch bunch: an optional lunch hour offered at his school. He proudly carries a Star Wars lunch box, usually containing a turkey sandwich, apples, fruit snacks and a juice box. He eats lunch with his friends then plays on the playground for the remainder of the hour. His teacher reports that he diligently eats every bite of his lunch, often lagging behind other students who run off to play. This makes me consider serving all his meals from a lunch box! They offered lunch bunch for Tobin's pre-K class last year but I never signed him up for it. While he expressed interest, he also didn't really press the issue. I was reluctant to add an extra hour to our morning because it was difficult to keep Evan awake at that time of day, as it felt like he spent most of January to May of last year transitioning from two naps to one. I feel a little guilty about avoiding lunch bunch mostly for my convenience, but perhaps it has made the experience all the more special for Tobin this year. Although lunch bunch is offered four days most weeks, we only do two Thursdays a month because it costs a little extra money and one of the benefits of having Tobin in a half-day program is that he gets to come home and have lunch with us. I'm treasuring our last year of having family lunches since he'll be gone for a full day in first grade next year.
Lunch bunch is fun for the whole family. While Tobin stays an extra hour at school, Evan, Lauren and I have lunch at Riverside with Matt, who has his planning period from about 10:45-1:00. I pack Evan a sandwich, fruit and juice box in his Toy Story lunch box. (Neither boy has seen any of the Star Wars or Toy Story movies, but they love the boxes nonetheless.) He doesn't eat his lunch as well as Tobin, because the distractions in Daddy's empty classroom are many. Like Tobin did at his age, Evan especially loves drawing on Matt's classroom whiteboard. Just this morning, he drew us lots of fish and Spider-Man! While Matt and I eat our lunches and Evan explores the classroom, Lauren usually sits with Matt, bounces on his lap and, lately, tears up his napkin. The babies and I end up spending about an hour with Matt and then we head back across town to pick up Tobin at 1:15. These semimonthly special lunches are indeed highlights on our family calendar.
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