Feeding fun

Drew has been eating solid foods for a couple of weeks now and he can eat enough at supper time that we don't need to give him a bottle. Here he is in his chair getting ready to eat. We have a portable high chair that attaches to any chair (we decided to forego the permanent high chair). Drew can't quite stay up the whole time on his own, so we put a towel on either side of him to keep him propped up straight. Drew opens his mouth for each bite and has gotten quite adept at eating from a spoon.

We'd like Drew to learn how to use a spoon himself, but we'd also like him to use it to eat, not as a play toy (he mainly likes to suck on the spoon and admire it in his hand like below). We've been working on teaching him that playing with the spoon or his food slows down the process. It helps that he's usually hungry and wants the next bite as soon as possible! Drew loves rice cereal! He smiles and grins while we feed him rice cereal (and he likes attention from both parents too :)
Jana is our most successful feeder of Drew. She has patiently worked with him so that he doesn't try to "help" too much like he's doing here. Drew's "help" ends up making the eating process extra messy! Drew tried carrots for the first time a little while ago. As a bite of carrots goes in, Drew doesn't look too upset about it, but merely curious. I got the privilege of feeding Drew his first bites of carrot! This action shot shows you a typical Drew reaction to the carrots. He did NOT like the carrots! We were so amused to see his reaction that we gave him several bites "just to make sure" he didn't like them. He definitely did not! We'll try carrots again pretty soon because sometimes babies don't take to foods the first time they're introduced.
There's no eating in this picture, but Drew is pretty happy to not be eating carrots!
Drew has also learned to eat plain unsweetened yogurt (definitely not one of my favorites!). Compared to most things we've tried, the yogurt has been almost a success. He sneezes every once in a while during feeding with yogurt, but he keeps opening his mouth for more. We read in one of our baby books that sometimes if foods are at all tart (possibly like the yogurt), a response like the one we get from Drew is normal and doesn't mean that he doesn't like it. Thus, we continue to feed him yogurt and he has been eating it with enthusiasm.
Just like most of Drew's eating, the yogurt tends to get a little messy (especially when it's me doing the feeding and not Jana).
I try my best, but Jana seems to have more of a knack for getting the majority of the food in Drew's mouth. With me, the food seems to end up all over Drew's face, on his hands, on the bib, on the high chair, on me. Feeding Drew requires some serious clean up when finished!
In addition to eating from a spoon, Drew has become obsessed with bottles. This partially filled water bottle kept him entertained for quite a while. Drew is jealous whenever Jana and I drink from a bottle and he reaches for it and has even started to cry if we don't let him have it. Drew is started to know what he wants and get upset when he doesn't get it! (That doesn't mean he always gets what he wants though :)
Drew has also ventured into the green vegetables by trying some green beans. They were not met with a very enthusiastic response, as you can see below.
Some of the beans got dribbled out after they were put in his mouth, and every bite produces a face like the one above followed by a look that said "What are you putting into my mouth?"
We don't have pictures, but Drew has also tried sweet potatoes with limited success. His next new food is going to be avocado. As you can probably tell, we are having a lot of fun feeding Drew!