Progress?

He will hold onto a spoon at mealtimes now. Tonight, for example, he didn't eat with the spoon, but he waved it around with one hand while cramming fistfuls of chili into his mouth with the other. The little dude still has several key spoon skills to master, including how to get and keep food on the spoon.

 I think the little dude's dad is starting to see a distant light at the end of the dinner-is-a-giant-mess tunnel.

It's a very distant light, but it's there.