Sprunki - Peanut Butter and Jelly

Ludwig and Willow’s son, Panambi, likes being independent and doing things for himself. Of course, being only five years old, there are still a few things he needs an adult's help with, but he loves the proud feeling he gets when he learns how to do something new for himself. 

On this particular day, a Sunday, Panambi and his little sister, Nanduti were at the dining room table while their dad Ludwig was about to make lunch for them. 

“So, what are we thinking today, kids? Grilled cheese, ham with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato, or the classic PB&J?” asked Ludwig. 

Nanduti signed the letters ‘P’, ‘B’ and ‘J’. 

“Oh! Me too, please!” said Panambi. 

"Two peanut butter and jellies coming right up.” said Ludwig. So got out the peanut butter, strawberry jam, and bread, then started making the first sandwich. Panambi watched his dad get everything out, then get ready to start spreading peanut butter on the first slice of bread, and he thought about how it didn't look too hard to do. 

The spider-butterfly hybrid had an idea. “Hey, Dad?” 

“What’s up?” asked Ludwig. 

“Can i try making my own sandwich?” asked Panambi. 

Of course, Ludwig wasn't surprised at all by this question, because Panambi was always trying to do things for himself, and loved learning new skills. He thought about it for a second, then remembered that he himself was fairly young when he first learned how to make a sandwich. 

“Yeah! Sure! It’s pretty simple. Here. I’ll bring everything over here, grab another butter knife, and I’ll show you how to make your own sandwich while I make your sister’s. How’s that sound?” asked Ludwig. 

“Ok!” said Panambi. 

So Ludwig grabbed all the ingredients, as well as two plates and two butter knives, and set them down on the table between his seat and where Panambi was sitting, as the latter was very excited to learn how to make his own sandwich. 

“So, how many pieces of bread should we each use? Three? Seven? A hundred?” asked Ludwig. 

Panambi giggled. “No! Two pieces!” 

“Oh, right! Of course! Two for you, and two for me.” Ludwig chuckled. Both he and Panambi had two slices of bread each laying in front of them. 

“Then we put peanut butter on this piece, and jam on the other, right?” asked Panambi. 

“That’s right! You just dip the knife in, scoop some peanut butter out, then spread it on the bread like this.” Ludwig demonstrated, and Panambi watched how exactly he moved his paw. “See? You wanna make sure every single bit is covered, so that you taste peanut butter with every single bite.” 

“Like this?” asked Panambi, spreading the peanut butter. 

“Yeah! That’s pretty good! Keep spreading it!” Ludwig encouraged. Panambi did so. To him, it was really satisfying spreading the peanut butter all around. 

“Looks good! Now, let’s scrape our knives into the peanut butter jar to clean off as much as we can before next digging into the jam.” Ludwig said, and then showed his son what to do. He scraped the last bit of peanut butter off his knife back into the jar, then dug the knife into the jar of jam to scoop some out. Once he placed the jam onto the other slice of bread, Panambi tried to copy him, but some of the jam fell onto the table. 

“Oops!” commented Panambi. 

“That’s ok, we can clean that up. Just grab some more.” said Ludwig. 

Panambi got some more jam, then managed to get it all onto the bread. He felt accomplished, then started spreading it onto the bread. 

He then grabbed a bit more since it didn’t cover the whole piece. “Mmm! I like lots of jam on my sandwich!” 

“Me too! Just try not to put on too much, or it’ll fall out the sides.” Ludwig said. 

Panambi giggled. “I like that, though.” 

“Well, I suppose it’s your sandwich, so you do you!” laughed Ludwig. 

Soon, Panambi was satisfied by how much jam was on the sandwich, but then he scraped his knife, then went back into the peanut butter and spread just a tiny bit more onto his sandwich. “Aaaand there! I like lots of peanut butter too!” 

“Alright! Just make sure your mouth doesn’t get stuck shut!” Ludwig laughed. 

“Daaaaaad!” groaned Panambi while giggling. 

Soon, Panambi’s sandwich had plenty of peanut butter, and plenty of jam on it. But there was still one more step left to do. 

“Next we smush the bread together, right?” asked Panambi. 

“You got it!” said Ludwig. “On three, ready? One, two, three! Smush!” 

The two simultaneously pressed their two pieces of bread together, and soon the PB and J sandwiches were ready. 

Ludwig then grabbed a star-shaped sandwich cutter. “I’ll just cut this into a star, since Nanduti likes her sandwich this way, and there you go, sweetie.” he handed Nanduti her sandwich after he’s done. 

‘Thanks, Daddy!’ praised Nanduti. 

“No problem at all. Panambi, do you need help cutting yours?” asked Ludwig. 

“Ummm…Yeah. Can mine be cut into the shape of a crown?” asked Panambi. “And can you help me out on it. I don’t know how to use the cutter.” 

“That’s alright. You will someday, but you did a great job making your own sandwich!” Ludwig praised. 

“Yeah! I did it all by myself!” said Panambi. 

“You sure did!” agreed Ludwig. As he was cutting Panambi’s sandwich, while Nanduti was already digging into hers, Willow came in. 

“Mommy! I made my own sandwich!” said Panambi. 

 
‘Really?’ signed Willow. 

“Yep! Panambi made his very own peanut butter and jelly sandwich! He used the butter knife and everything!” said Ludwig. 

Willow smiled and signed. ‘Wow! That's amazing! Great work, Panambi!’ 

“Thanks!” said Panambi. 

Once his sandwich was cut, Panambi took a bite from one of the sailboat pieces, and his eyes lit up. “Mmmm!” 

“It tastes so much better when you make it yourself, doesn't it?” asked Ludwig. 

“Mmhmm! But I still don't like the crusts.” said Panambi. 

“That’s alright, buddy.” praised Ludwig. 

‘Great job, Panambi!’ praised Willow. 

“You're growing up so much more every day! We're proud of you!” praised Ludwig.

Panambi felt proud of himself too. He loves learning how to do things for himself, and on that day, he learned how to make his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. Panambi and his family are excited to see what he learns how to do next.