I agree - Babyred has developed some recent deliberate bad habits (shaking water out of her beaker onto the highchair tray then splatting her hands into it; swiping leftover stuff onto the floor the second she is sated etc) and spoons are now demanded at an increasingly early stage of the meal. As for coping with mess, I had friends over for lunch with their older toddlers last week - we had spinach and cream cheese pasta, which has the effect of turning Babyred into the Incredible Hulk in seconds, then gradually turning everything green within a 3 metre radius. My mates were horrified - one decided to spoon feed her 2.5 year old to avoid mess! As far as I am concerned, you make mess, you clear it up - BLW has made me quite chilled in that respect.