Table Manners
According to Olive1
My parents introduced me to solid food a few months ago now, so I'm pretty much an expert at this point. I can eat anything! (I do, too: you should see some of the stuff they give me to eat; it is not at all like milk. It's not bad, once you get past the fundamental oddity of its non-lactose nature, but that is still sometimes a hurdle.)
The first and most important rule of table manners is determining when you are in fact at the table. This one is pretty easy: there's a special chair with its own tray; when I'm there, food is on its way. This is my cue to grin a lot, to show anticipation for what is to come. Sometimes they forget me there for periods of over 30 seconds, at which point a short wail will bring them back pretty reliably.
Once food is served, there are two very important steps which must always be taken no matter what kind of food it is. The first is to shake it violently back and forth. This has several benefits: it promotes cooling to a safe temperature, it ensures the food is well-mixed and homogenized, and it spreads delicious aromas around the area. The second step is to place it on the tray and give it a good solid smack with an open palm. This helps ensure that the food is in fact dead and won't try to escape later.
After those preparatory steps are complete, the food can be dissected. Some foods are soft and/or smeary; for these, simply prodding it with a pointing finger is sufficient to take it apart. Other foods are more rigid, and you may need to take it in both hands and pull it apart. Feel free to perform whatever measures are required to get your food into a bite-sized portion. If all else fails, don't hesitate to go back a step and give it another smack. Few foods will stand up to this kind of treatment for long!
Having isolated the bits of food that you wish to eat, simply brush everything else over the edge of the tray. (Dad tells me almost every meal that what I push off the edge is gone forever. I know, Dad! That's why I do it!) Now, take up your bite in a pincer grasp, and place it carefully into your mouth. Bite, mash, gum, and otherwise erode the food until it feels good, then swallow. My parents aren't very observant sometimes, so I'll often need to vocalize something to make them notice that I'm ready for the next bite at this point.
Having said all that, there's a whole separate category of food with its own rules: purees. On the one hand, these can be really tasty, and they're a really quick way to fill up. On the other hand, it's a passive kind of eating. Still, here's how it goes:
You can tell a puree is coming when they bring out a spoon. From that point, life is simple: open your mouth when you're ready for a bite; stop opening it when you're full. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I've gotten really good at eating from a spoon: only a little bit gets on the bib these days.
You may notice that after a bite, the spoon is empty. It dips into a jar or bowl, and then is full again. You may also notice that this jar or bowl is within grabbing distance, particularly if you've been growing recently. A fun game is to reach out and try to take it! I haven't yet managed to get my hand in there--my parents can be awfully quick sometimes--but I can only imagine what that texture would feel like. Still, it's only a matter of time: I am young and crafty, and they are old and inattentive.
Those are the rules of eating! They are also called table manners. I'm good at them!
Ok, so as Olive still can't speak, I've written this all out according to her observed behaviors. I willingly admit that I am putting words into her mouth. Given how often I put food into her mouth, I figure inserting a few words won't be minded too much.