so true, Mij, i'm inclined to think that these babes are not precisely using the spoon to scoop up the food themselves but being handed spoons which they then wave about and eventually get into their mouths... luckily their parents are on hand with a camera at exactly that moment. Babybear used to love playing with spoons in the bath, so they were a chew toy long before actually being cutlery. she's had a fork and spoon for a few months now at every meal (she's 18 months) but is still most efficient with her hands. by which i mean really efficient. no dropping anything any more (unless on purpose) and rather lovely and neat. the cutlery is great fun, though. to be honest i value good 'table manners' over using the cutlery, and she's good and friendly and doesn't throw or smear things and she drinks very well from an open cup. the fact that she can also fork food into her mouth and fairly good at getting yoghurt out of a bowl and into her mouth is okay by me.