What's on the menu?

My son started making his own lunches when he was still in kindergarten, so he learned the food pyramid pretty early. At first he would just pick out which fruit he wanted and slowly progressed from there. Within a year he had the routine down- sandwich, fruit, dairy, drink, snack. He's allowed to buy school lunch once a week. So every morning is pretty much the same after the Superman alarm goes off. He gets dressed, makes his lunch and snack, gets himself breakfast and is ready to go....except for this morning.


My alarm goes off at its usual 7:00 and I lay there for a little while waiting to hear the pitter-patter of his feet. I hear his dresser drawers open and wonder what interesting outfit he is going to pick for that particular day. Then I hear the refrigerator door open...and close again? Uh-oh. Pretty soon he's standing in my doorway.

Him: Um, Mom? I'm out of yogurts for lunch.
Me: Ok, just bring a string cheese.

A moment passes and he's back.

Him: Mom? I'm out of juice boxes for lunch.
Me: Ok, just fill up a water bottle.

Another moment passes and he's back AGAIN. This can't be good.

Him: Don't get mad, but I'm out of Uncrustables, too.
(For those of you who don't know, Uncrustables are little PB&J sandwiches without the crust that are kept in the freezer until needed. A wonderful invention.)
Me: Seriously? You didn't notice yesterday that you took the last one?!
Him: I should just buy lunch again. It's cheese pizza and it's really good. I mean, we don't really have any other options, right?

Suddenly the little red flag went up in my brain. You see, he had already bought lunch that week and he had a hard time deciding which day to buy- the chicken fingers or the pizza. So he had chosen the chicken fingers, yet here we were on pizza day!

Oh, he's good. What ammo did I have? It was 7 in the morning, I had no coffee in my system yet and he's staring at me with big brown eyes and a pouty bottom lip. He had hit me when my defenses were low and he knew it.

So off he went to school today with $2.25 in his pocket and a big smile on his face...and off I went to Costco so he can't pull that trick again for a long time. And next time, I'll be prepared!