I had planned on doing a different post today (I’ll do that next week), but someone on Instagram recently asked me if I still did lunch doodles for our daughter.  Since I do, I posted this one:

…and GOODNESS, the response from it was overwhelming!

I’ve done posts in the past on the doodles I put in her lunch, but it’s been awhile since I shared them.

So a few things have changed…I didn’t like plastic baggies (’cause I’m about 73% hippie), so after awhile I got fabric bags, and just drew on a quarter of a paper towel.  I used to love the notes my mom left in my lunches when I was a kid, so the idea was that since Myla can’t read yet, I wanted to leave a little something in her lunch to make her smile.  She knows that hearts mean “love,” so I made sure to always include a heart on them.  And since kids’ interests change SO quickly, I also tried to draw whatever she was into for the day, be it mermaids, Groot, Wonder Woman, or C3PO…

One day, when she was talking about school, she said sweetly, “if you WAAAANT, you can color them in….”  (As an artist herself, I’ve learned that things seem “unfinished” to her when they’re black & white.)  Now, if I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t.  But I’m always up for a challenge…

It started out small with just a little color here & there, using her kid-markers…(but they really bleed into the napkin a lot.)

Finally, I started using a set of colored ballpoint pens, and sometimes some shmancy Prismacolor colored pencils, which are pretty quick & easy.

Sometimes if I’m really stuck, I’ll ask her what I should draw for her (she doesn’t get to see it, though, til the next day at lunch).  Usually, though, I just think about what she’s been “into” that day.  What her favorite doll is…or toy or show or character she made up.

This is a character she created, after some heavy Lego Ninjago influence.  It’s a dragon-ninja.  And on her napkin at lunch time, she gets to tell everyone about it, and they can jibber jabber about whatever cool things kindergarten kids talk about.

So now it’s become a daily thing.  Every evening, I get her lunch ready, and sit down with a napkin for a quick doodle.  It doesn’t take much time at all, really–especially for what you get in return (which is that you make your kid smile at lunchtime).

She doesn’t actually use them to wipe her hands.  They’re all still in her lunch when she comes home every day.  From what she’s told me, they sort of become little conversational pieces with the other kids at lunch.  She’ll say “Oh, it’s the green crayon from Color City!  Have you seen that?”  Or, “This is little creature I made up myself, and mom drew it! ”   …Which is fun for her.

I even occasionally dabble in banana doodles (like the Baymax one in the very first pic above).  At first, I tried using a toothpick to “etch” it in (I think I had seen that somewhere?  Probably on Pinterest.)…  The results, while kinda cute, were a bit wonky.  And it was awkward to draw.  The point of it is that it’s supposed to be fun, quick…and EASY.

So I tried it again with a regular ol’ ballpoint pen and THAT was much more magical.  (I highly suggest a ballpoint pen over a toothpick if you ever feel the urge to draw doodles on a banana.)

Last time I posted about the lunch doodles, I heard such great stories from you all about your own lunches as kids  or the lunches you make for your kids–word problems, math problems to solve, love notes, banana doodles.  Such wonderful things!

So there it is.  I asked her once if she was getting tired of the doodles in her lunchbox.  She said, “Oh, NO, mama!  I will NEVER get tired of them.  Please don’t ever stop.”

So, chalk that along with her verbal promise that she will “NEVER ever EVER be a stinky teenager,” and I guess for now, I’ll just take her word for it.

Even if she’s twelve.  Hahah!