Thoughts on Eating

Okay, so my kid eats a lot and her eating habits have been on my mind lately. Not anything serious. Just random thoughts.
For instance, the other day my mom and Ella and I went shopping. Ella is at the age where she doesn't really last that long in a stroller so shortly into our shopping trip she was screaming her head off to get out of the stroller. But this time, holding her didn't seem to calm her. She was just really fussy. We thought maybe it was her teeth. But once we visited the food court and had some lunch she was much better. In fact she fell asleep shortly thereafter and then was fine for the rest of the day!
At one point I realized....oh....maybe she was just hungry! And then I felt like a horrible mother. What mom doesn't know that it's time to eat! I suppose I could blame it on the fact that I work and so I don't really have her all day and so on the weekends it's tough to kind of figure out what her routine is. I think that at the sitter's house she probably eats all throughout the day! When I drop her off she starts pointing toward the kitchen because she knows there's food there and that's what she wants! I could also blame it on the fact that my child never ate baby food. She basically went from rice cereal to table food. And this I think is far harder to gauge as far as amounts that she is getting and really knowing if she is full and when she will be hungry again. And I could also blame it on the fact that I'm a first time mom and Ella totally threw me for a loop when she refused to eat anything out of a jar! (She still refuses to eat anything off a spoon.)
I suppose it's a combination of all of these things. And I suppose that feeding her and making sure she is getting enough of the right nutrients weighs on my mind so heavily because being another person's source for food is serious business! Above changing and bathing and teaching--being responsible for feeding Ella really makes this whole mom thing feel real. Maybe if I had breastfed this sense of responsibility would have hit me sooner.....I don't know. She still of course gets formula and I always feel a bit better after she finishes the bottle because I know for sure she has 6oz. of something in her tummy!
Anyway, I'm getting pretty good at this whole cooking healthier and finding things that Ella can eat all by herself. (God forbid I have to help her!)
The other day she had french toast for breakfast, some pasta (to include cucumbers, olives, and tomatoes) for lunch, and peanut butter on bread and strawberries for dinner. She ususally will snack on those little fruit bars for kids and/or Cheerios. (Better known as Cho's, as cousin Maddie used to call them).
Anyway, at the end of that day when I thought about what she'd eaten I was just really surprised she eats this stuff, and she's been eating it since she was about seven months old! Again....I just assumed that she'd be eating pureed meats and such out of jars!!
So.....that's that. Just felt I needed to get some of these thoughts out of my head!

Sorry, no pics this time. My camera won't turn on! I think it needs a whole new battery, I'm not sure.
Anway, have a good weekend!