My son is no longer a baby.

He is a Senior in Kindergarten and walks the halls with the confidence that only comes from paying your dues as a Junior.

If you listen closely you can hear the Juniors mumbling, “look at that guy…that will be us one day…then all the riches of not being tired and cranky midday from missing the nap we’ve grown accustomed to at pre-school will be ours!”

The biggest concern I had when he started kindergarten was lunch and snack time.

How was this little guy going to sit at his little desk and take out his little lunch and unwrap and open lids and have polite conversation all by himself??

I couldn’t wrap my head around it to be honest, but somehow he prevailed with only minor lunch box disasters discovered upon it’s return home for the unveiling.

Some grocery store items advertised as “handy lunch box snacks” are hard to open for adults never mind heavy-handed children.

If you squeeze “drinkin’ box juice” the wrong way they erupt like Mount Vesuvius.

The wonderful invention of yogurt “tubes” is a convenient way to add some yogurt into your kid’s lunch bag and release an invasion of yogurt snakes into the classroom after the innocent opening tear.

Let’s not forget about the fruit cups packed in a cup with a plastic “easy peel back lid”.

For the life of me, I can’t cleanly open one.

I have to stretch out my arms as far as they will go, turn the cup around so the opening lip faces away from me, pull and hope for the best.

Maybe we will consider adding one of these to his lunch box when he’s going to work…although I suppose we won’t be packing his lunch at that point.

Good thing you have a few years until you have to navigate all this school snack fun with your baby.

For now let’s focus on some more yummy recipes for your little one to enjoy without having to test their dexterity.

Ready…Set…Evolve…

Banana Berry Ice Cream

Age – 12 months +

Ingredients

• 1 frozen banana
• ½ cup frozen raspberries
• ¼ cup milk

Baby Steps

1. Add all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy like soft serve ice cream.
2. Yes, that’s it.

Makes – Approx. 1 cup so you will have enough to share this tasty treat together

Note:

You can substitute the raspberries for any fruit really to make some fun banana berry/fruit combos.

Try mango, strawberries or blueberries.

You would just need to clean and chop as necessary and then freeze them the night before in a zip lock so they’re frozen and ready for you to use the next day.