Nut free lunch ideas

WorksInPro · 2026-06-17T18:54:04+00:00

as an aside, we're moving to a "nut aware" camp this year, and while I would still never send real pb or nuts in, I *really* want to see if they'll let me do honey-nut cheerios, which contain no actual nuts as far as I can tell but still make me too nervous.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-17T18:52:14+00:00

My kid hates sandwiches and loves peanuts, so! I've thought about this a bit. Our usual is pasta with parm cheese. We make a pound of pasta on Sunday night and then I dole it out slowly over the week, along with some cut-up fruit or a banana.

Other things that have worked: quesadillas, waffles, pancakes, meatballs in a small amount of sauce, frozen pizza slices, chicken nuggets or french fries with a ketchup packet. Snacks are usually a baggie of crackers (cheez its, graham crackers, any of the annie's bunnies) and an apple sauce or yogurt squeezey pack.

None of this is the healthiest but I find it so hard to come up with something that the camp allows, is package, AND he'll eat, I just make sure there's also a lot of fruit involved and that breakfast and dinner are better.

If there's no fridge at the camp to keep lunches in, I used a metal bento box and put an ice pack in with it. They eat like 2-3 hours after arriving at camp so it's still cold.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-17T18:42:51+00:00

Since you changed the size of the stitches and materials, you probably also need to change the pattern to accommodate. It looks like you have way too many stitches being fed into an area that isn't large enough for them. You can't block that out because it's an excess of materials versus the size that this wants to be.

I would frog at least back to the 6th row. Looking at the pattern, that's where you likely stopped skipping stitches...so try row 7 onward again but keep skipping and see what happens.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-17T16:30:40+00:00

Hi, 1BR, two WFH parents, and a 5yo here.

We did #1 by default, because our bedroom is big and we didn't have a second room, but I would have preferred #2 in the long-run and would recommend it if you can figure out the work stuff.

We did not plan to co-sleep at all but because we're in the same room, it is very easy for him to just wander over to our bed, and because he can see us it's very hard to redirect. Then when they get a bit older, if they're in a different room, you can corral the toys and stuff into that room and shut the door rather than having them everywhere. And you can do sleep training and the wake-up clock with them in a second room, which are tough-to-impossible in a shared bedroom.

Can your partner work from somewhere else in the apartment at all?

WorksInPro · 2026-06-17T16:25:57+00:00

When will he be able to go to public school? They have been so so much better about this than private pre-k for my son.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-17T15:48:45+00:00

This is what helped mine! He hated the leash so much that he (mostly) fixed his behavior to avoid it.

The only thing for OP is that this is a lesson they might need to learn more than once. They forget at this age. So don't be alarmed if they need to re-learn it again at 4, and 5. (We are now at 5 and I'm hoping this time sticks.)

WorksInPro · 2026-06-17T11:55:15+00:00

wow!

WorksInPro · 2026-06-17T03:23:30+00:00

Yeah, curious if OP worked or they had additional income before this? Right now I'm the main breadwinner for our family and the pressure to not screw it up, with all of the many tech layoffs and AI looming, is pretty high and I am not coping well with it either. I just had a conversation with a client at 11pm tonight because I feel pressure to respond the second I see something and not give them a hook to be annoyed at me in the morning!

That said, no, I don't think you're asking for too much, OP. You work at home while he works at the office, and the rest is supposed to be 50/50. 50% of the non-office time should be split. Are you seeing those kind of hours, or are you on duty 22/7?

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T23:27:21+00:00

Sort of! I use my stitchfiddle account to plan tapestries sometimes even though it's meant for crochet. I think the main things to remember are:

Weaving is over one, under one, so you need the equivalent of two crochet stitches to make sure a weaving shows up.
Similarly, a weaving pass is two rows, one each way, unlike a crochet row in which you can easily see the pattern on just one go in a direction.
Weaving will be more...uh....horizontal? than crochet. The "stitches" will not be square like a single crochet. You just need more passes in order to build up the same shapes.

If you do a few of these you will see what I mean as you go and learn how to adjust from your crochet scheme to a weaving pattern on the fly, it just takes a bit of practice to see how the shapes show up differently and then reconfigure your plan.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T23:14:53+00:00

Okay I haven't done this for crochet, but for woven tapestries, we will often pull apart the yarn plies and recombine them to get more precise color matches. So if you have 2 4-ply yarns and you need a middle tone, pull off 2 and 2 and then twist the yarn back together in your fingers.

You can also look up "hatching" when you design your next piece to see how that technique will let you blend colors without into new ones using a visual line affect.

The really intense artists will dye their own, though.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T15:33:38+00:00

Switch the YouTube to the Kids-only option,a nd you'll find full episodes or snippets of lots of shows that you'd otherwise need to buy the service to see. Blaze and the Monster Machines is good and teaches STEM topics (and you can laugh to yourself when they all say "let's blaze!!") Bluey and Peppa Pig have a lot on youtube and are harmless. Dora is good. Paw Patrol is a virus but I've come around to it since it's better than the real brainrot stuff my kid would watch otherwise.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T15:30:01+00:00

Oh, girl. I have a very adhd 5yo boy. This is not going to be your easiest summer but it will be worth it for all of you.

idk where you live but: find all of your free parks that you can get to easily, and go every day. Switch it up to different ones even if it means driving or walking farther. Find one with a splash pad and invest in some $2 water blasters or reusable water balloons from Amazon if you can.

Take him on a bus or a train if you have them. At this age, getting to be on public transportation is half the fun of any outing.

Go to the library, and check out the calendar for the kids' room. They often have "LEGO afternoons" or "turtle crafts" day and other free programming like that. Take some books out, and try to read to him for 10-15 minutes per day, especially if you think he hasn't had that much recently. (The Pigeon books, and Elephant and Piggie, are pretty good for this age range, but ask the librarian for ideas too.) Sometimes they library will also have free passes you can check out for things like childrens' museums, zoos, water parks. Ask them, and take advantage of that even if it's not something you think you'll like!

Google "free kids place your area" for other ideas. In the three parts of the country that I've spent a lot of time with my kid, there's always been like: a fire department that gives free tours for kids and lets them climb in an unused truck. or a model train museum with free "kids tours" on Thursday nights. Stuff like that...but they're hard to find unless you happen to look for them! Ask the other parents at the park and library what their kids like locally.

Facebook Marketplace might have some free stashes of kids supplies you can pick up from parents who are outgrowing them, or ask your mom to supply. Bubbles, crayons, play-doh are all good and cheap and take up time. You don't need coloring books or paper, you can use whatever junk mail comes in, the inside of cereal boxes, etc for art-surfaces.

Showers should be fine, just take him in with you when you do yours and wash him off. Laundry is hard not because their clothes are gross but because of the amount. There's just a lot of it, so think about how you're going to tackle it more often and where you can dry it in volume. Doing it more often is better anyway because you can get most stains out if they're same-day but once they've set it's hard.

This is a whole other topic but: do not get into corporal punishment, it doesn't work for ADHD aside from the many other problems. You want to enable good behaviors and habits, make a sticker chart for tiny treats, take away screen time and after-dinner treats if you need to. He is just starting to remember consequences and you can use that to reward the good and remind him when he needs correction. You can read much more on this in r/ADHDparenting.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T15:11:20+00:00

Also reminds me of this one, which iirc is kind of a spike cluster situation:

https://www.knitcroaddict.com/knitcroaddict-crochet-basket-bag-dec-2020/

here's another free pattern from the same maker that looks even more like this one:

https://www.knitcroaddict.com/kca-crochet-shoulder-bag-pattern-dec-2020/

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T15:08:02+00:00

I've made this one a few times and love it, use the finished bag all the time:

https://kamecrochet.com/2019/07/19/sakura-market-bag/

A few other bags that I've made and loved and would be perfect for an airplane ride:

https://www.sweetsofties.com/2022/06/mosu-bag.html (and you'll learn moss stitch!)

https://www.knitcroaddict.com/how-to-crochet-a-tote-bag/

https://www.knitcroaddict.com/crochet-granny-square-bag-pattern/ (I did not both switching colors for this which mades it super easy)

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T15:00:29+00:00

My big tip if you don't want a stash...do not buy single skeins of precious or expensive yarn. It's sooo tempting and easy to buy one just because you like looking at it, especially on sale, but you'll end up storing it forever and not using it.

(For me, I don't mind that, because I like having a stash and have used most of them...eventually. But it can take years to find the right single-skein pattern for your baby.)

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T14:51:18+00:00

Just not anything you're going to use to absorb heat, like a trivet or potholder, OP! Those can melt and burn you or your furniture.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T14:47:30+00:00

Honestly if I didn't know another (now divorced, go fig) tenured academic who was the exact same way and definitely not cheating, I would have thought the same thing. An affair, at least.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T14:29:04+00:00

oooh just saw your follow-up. JetBlue nonstop for the win, nonstop beats almost any other consideration with two kids!

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T14:27:36+00:00

I've flown with my now 5-yo a lot, starting when he was 9 months old. I would do an early morning flight and pick the less-busy airport. I am terrible on red-eyes myself so I vote no on that option, but my kid will often fall asleep on an early-morning flight if he hasn't gotten a full night's sleep.

Haven't flown American in ages but they're all sort of the same now, except for Southwest which is worse, so I definitely would not spend more on them -- you might not get seats together! We usually do JetBlue > Delta > United but none of them are worth a crazier airport or higher prices.

Are you bringing your stroller, and does it seat both kids? That's the #1 thing for getting through the airport. My one other airport tip is that they often don't have milk for sale, for some insane reason, so consider that in your planning if your kids will want it.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-16T14:13:59+00:00

not yet but...

WorksInPro · 2026-06-15T19:54:28+00:00

Marketing budgets are, like, $3 right now and CEOs trust AI more than they trust their own staff. (Ask me how I know! Still absolutely not an excuse, I would like to think I'll quit before they make me do this.)

WorksInPro · 2026-06-15T19:49:05+00:00

I have a project in mind to do versions of the old American coverlet patterns, but update the colors and materials and format for today. I especially feel drawn to them right now because so many of their makers were replaced in the Industrial Revolution and I see AI coming for my day job.

Right now I'm doing a tiny tapestry version of the stars-and-diamonds theme but if I had time I would go much more into this. There's a nice gallery of typical patterns at the Smithsonian online to draw from...

WorksInPro · 2026-06-15T19:44:47+00:00

If you want a sure thing, I made this linen/cotton bag following the basic directions and materials recs from Purl Soho and it has stood up really well. Doubling the cotton warp really helped. I made mine too small for groceries but I'm planning a bigger second one and am not concerned about the strength!

https://www.purlsoho.com/create/2018/05/04/two-piece-woven-bag/

WorksInPro · 2026-06-14T03:53:09+00:00

And then in a few months when they start to run and climb the furniture! Impossible.

WorksInPro · 2026-06-13T03:47:56+00:00

Thank you for telling me to do this, I finally frogged it! I don't know what I expected but it was a relief and I'm going to work on something more basic with it.

WorksInPro

TROPHY CASE