Comfort food

Enjoying some avocado at 6 mos

Beni got her first bite of solid food the day before she turned 6 mos old.  In the very beginning it seemed like she was going to like eating...we had a few times when she ate really well.  I mean, check out that picture.  That is a child enjoying some avocado!

But time went on, and soon enough Beni was refusing any solids.  Then eventually around 8 mos, maybe 9, she really got into purees, and now finally she is eating fingers foods that most kids probably were eating months ago.  And the foods she is eating are not the ones I imagined and hoped she would be... I'm a vegetable-loving vegetarian, so I sure did hope she wold love her vegetables.  She does eat them as purees, but, she hasn't exactly taken to fresh/cooked ones. (There is time, I realize, for her tastes to develop!)

So the other night she was having some dinner... pasta with butter and parmesan.  She was mostly sucking the butter and cheese off the pasta, and then eating small bites of the actual pasta.  I kept eying her pasta and REALLY wanting to eat it!

Eventually I started telling my husband how even though it was such a simple meal, I really wanted to eat it.  And I think I know the reason.  The meal seems to me like a very kiddie meal- something that would be lovingly (though quickly) prepared for a child by their mother.  A meal not big on taste, but huge on love.

I'm not sure if I missed out on meals like that when I was a kid myself.  My parents divorced when I was 6.  We lived with my mom, and she went back to work full time and had to handle that plus everything at home.  I know she cooked for us, but, she was very busy, and quite possibly just didn't have the energy to put into meals.  Or it could very well be that my own emotional body was just shut down at that point because of the upheaval going on in my life, and I just don't remember.  So my inner 6 year old is longing for lovingly prepared by mommy kiddie meals.

I do remember that I had to make my own lunches from a very young age. I remember making lots of bologna and ketchup sandwiches (ew!).  As a teacher, I've seen lots of packed lunches, and I have the same pull to steal kids lunches as I did with Beni's dinner.  There is something about those perfect little ham and cheese sandwiches with a thin spread of butter or mayo that just makes me want to pull a, "Hey, look! What's that over there?" make em look the other way while I steal your lunch thing.  Again...it's not so much about the sandwich.  Heck, I'm a vegetarian- what do I want with a ham and cheese sandwich?- but, the way the soft, fluffy bread layers with the fillings, and how it all fits tidily in a baggie next to the chips and cookies (typical American packed lunch of my youth) in a fun lunch box packed by your mommy.   It's about that.

It's like there are foods I just can't resist because, they just seem to have so much love in them!  Pasta with butter and parm, simple sandwiches... when I explained this whole thing to Joel he immediately said, "I'm like that with mac and cheese."  It's the ultimate comfort food- a food that holds memories from your childhood, and brings you back to feeling taken care of and loved.

What's the comfort food you want to steal out of your kid's lunch?  Or if you're a teacher, or a child care provider, or you visit your child's day care or school during the day- what do you want to steal out of other kid's lunches? ;)