How hard can it be to feed a baby?

I never realized how difficult it can be to figure out what to feed a baby every day, especially one who is lactose intolerant and allergic to cinnamon. It was easier when she did purees - her favorite was Moroccan-spiced lentils with roasted eggplant - and I could just food process a big batch, freeze it, and pull out a couple cubes for dinner, along with some yogurt, cereal and fruit. We noticed a couple weeks ago though, that she was refusing to eat most of her meals, and then having a HUGE bottle of formula before bed (she did 14 ounces one night), so we decided to switch her over to finger foods. She immediately got excited about eating again, but her tastes are more discriminating now.

Yesterday she would only eat her lactose-free cheese and soy yogurt. Nothing else. We even bought a box of Cheerios to give her, since she loves eating them at school. She threw them at us, one at a time, cackling maniacally.

The meal planning gets a little crazy sometimes. I have to get the menus from school, then figure out what she can and can't eat (the lactose intolerance makes it tricky) and then decide what to send her to make sure she has at least 2 fruits and 2 vegetables during the day, along with her cheese snack. And that's not even considering dinner. Since I don't get her home until about 5:00 most days, I don't make dinner before it's time for her to eat at 5:30 (hah, I don't really make dinner at all - Ryan's a much better cook than I am). So I have to find something healthy that she's willing to eat, and then remember when we eat dinner to save a few bites of anything baby-friendly that we have.

So, I've decided to start menu planning for her, just like we do for ourselves. Here's the menu for tomorrow:

Breakfast - fresh orange slices, cheerios
Lunch - chicken nuggets, green beans, pineapple, peas & carrots
Snack - oatmeal cookie, cheese
Dinner - soy yogurt, roasted zucchini, pancake

Now if only I could figure out how to get her to actually get the food into her mouth instead of dropping it into the high chair, onto the floor, or into her hair. Oh well - one step at a time.