Teaching Baby To Use A Spoon

Well I must be a lazy mum - Jaydee started on baby rice at just under 6mths.  After a couple of weeks of feeding him - he always wanted the spoon so I let him have one of his own while I fed him.  After a couple of weeks I got sick of mucking about and getting covered in food - so I let him feed himself mainly and just helped out enough to make sure a reasonable amount of food made it inside his mouth.  I have to encourage him to eat his toast and pizza with his hands - no fork or spoon required.  He is a bit messy - however it is good for him and he is very indignant when we try to feed him.

I have a messy mat that i put under the high chair and have seen bibs thatare long sleeved and short with a little pouch at the bottom to catch the mess.

A little mess won't hurt though, we don't worry too much about the mess until he is finished and then we clean it up (or let the cats in).

I found that my daughter had a much easier time catching on to feeding herself with utensils, shortly after she turned 1 as compared to my son ... hes 5 and still having some difficulty .. much the major difference is that my daughter is right handed as compared to my son who is left handed .. I have talked to other parents of lefties and they all say the same thing .. its just harder for them ... with my 9 month old I do the same as Jenzo .... keeps her entertained and she tries to feed herself while I am feeding her the bulk of her meal

I usually give Sebastian (8 months) a spoon to hold and I also have one during meal times. I put a bit of food on his and he usually  tries to get it in his mouth! I then feed him from the other spoon in between his attempts. It can be messy but he eats better and doesn't try to grab my spoon anymore!

For solid foods - like peas, small pieces of meat etc, we've encouraged Harry (2) to use a spoon or fork for quite a while now. He's had a fork and spoon available from when he was under 1 year old, just to get him used to the idea of having one. Gradually he got the idea of how to get the food on the spoon and into his mouth. And sitting in a high chair made it easier because it wasn't so messy to clean up.

We've only recently given him milk with his cereal (he has OTs or Cheerios) because it was too messy. When he was a baby and would let us feed him, of course he had milk with cereal, but from the age of about 18 months onward he only wanted for feed himself. Before milk with cereal he would have the dry cereal and have a drink of milk with it.

If you're really worried about mess, buy an inexpensive shower curtain and put in underneath the high chair to catch any spills. Similarly, instead of bids that tie around the neck and only give limited coverage, try a toddlers art smock. They're plastic, with long sleeves, so they cover clothes well to avoid mess and they're easy to wipe clean.

It would be great to find out at what stage do you try to introduce a spoon or a fork? Letting them play with crushed ice and a spoon is a great idea...but what about meal time???

I am slightly confused... :(

How many meals do you have to do this before they know how to use a spoon?
Are they the ones controlling the spoon?
How much does a snow cone machine cost?