More soup for you!!

All of a sudden, E wants soup. I can't figure where this latest desire stemmed from - TV or kids at her summer camp. Specifically she wanted chicken noodle. And initially I didn't leap on buying a can of soup. Sometimes I like to wait and see if she'll continue her interest. Then fate stepped in - I broke my right arm and my amazing friends & family stepped in with dinners. One brought .....tada.....cans of chicken noodle soup and tomato soup. And while shopping for school supplies, E glommed onto a lunchbox set because of the soup container bedazzled with Barbie, and declared she wanted soup for lunches this year.
That evening, I tried the chicken noodle:

It didn't go over well. Her sister gobbled it up, but E herself was not so keen. And she visibly got a little upset that she didn't like it and would not be taking it to school. That was a first. I've never seen her emotionally react to food that way. Either she likes it or doesn't. She used to throw tantrums but those would be over once the new food was removed. For some reason, she seemed emotionally invested in needing soup at lunch. Maybe it's a touch of 2nd grade sophistication, since she no longer wanted her sandwich cut either. Consolingly, I suggested that we could try other soups and those could still go in her lunchbox. She seemed intent on chicken noodle - as so often happens when a child has autism, the focus on one thing can be hard to break out of. Then came the first day of school and in a semi-panic she insisted she have soup, any soup. I explained I was out of chicken noodle but I had tomato:

Thankfully she went for it, AND she ate it. (Or someone did!) And she declared lunch with soup her favorite moment of her day.