Feeding time at the zoo

So, we're getting into the routine of feeding the Frog solids.  As we were out shopping for essentials for the solid-food-eating baby (spoons, bibs, high-and-low chair, fish slice), we saw this little device that I'd never heard of before.  It's like a dummy (or 'pacifier' for those who think 'dummy' isn't PC), but instead of the plastic teat thingy, there's this mesh net which you can fill with food.  I could take a picture, but I'm having too much fun with my new-found MSpaint skillz, so I've included a helpful diagram below of how it could be used with a slice of, say, banana.

Yep, you just stick the piece of food into the netting, and give it a couple of gentle squeezes (if you feel like it), and it becomes an unholy ooze, squelching out through the netting holes.  Frankly, I wish someone had mentioned one of these to me when I was younger - a device that skins peas as you eat has to be a winner!

With great fanfare (i.e. me standing close with the digicam), we presented the Frog with his first food offering: banana a la net.  He certainly approached this new food-intake method with great enthusiasm.  He grabbed the little dummy and sucked and chomped at it vigorously.  After a while he even stopped sucking at the handle to try the food end. Bingo!

We used this system for a few days, and began to notice some down sides.  Firstly, it takes 2 seconds to stick food in the little net.  It takes 40 minutes of scrubbing with a toothbrush to clean it.  Secondly:

Yeah.  At the end of a food session it's an odd's on bet that the Frog has managed to coat more of his outside with contents of the net than his inside.   Ah well, but he enjoys it. 

Then, I thought for breakfast, I'd try spoon-feeding him some rice cereal mashed with fruit.  The result:

I guess I'd neglected to consider that I needed to run the spoon past the gauntlet of his very grabby hands.  Short of a straight-jacket though, I'm not sure what to do about those.   Our current tactic is to strip him down to his nappy for feeds, then hose him off afterwards.  I can recommend the jet-spray nozzle setting.