Messy, messy, messy

The kids are getting to that stage where they don't really appreciate me spoon feeding them anymore. They would much rather feed themselves and not have to be patient and wait for their turn to get a bite of food. So we've been trying more and more finger foods. On one hand this is nice because I don't have to feed them, but on the other hand, it gets VERY messy! They haven't quite mastered the pincher grasp yet, although they are getting better at it, and food ends up smashed, mashed, and smeared everywhere. I try to stick to foods that don't make a huge mess, like Cheerios, freeze-dried fruits, steamed vegetables, string cheese, diced chicken, and so on. But that really limits their diet, so we have recently tried pizza, pasta with marinara sauce, rice, tomatoes, bananas - all which make a huge mess. The dogs love waiting under the highchairs for flying food to rain down on them. It takes me at least 20 minutes to get the kids all cleaned up and their highchairs washed out after wards! Here are some pictures of the mess they made yesterday while eating their pasta for lunch.