Sam's attempts at feeding himself

Sam has been attempting to feed himself. Aimee has some more details on her blog, but thought I would mention a couple details here.

Last night when I had to feed him by myself before Aimee got home because he was screaming and trying to climb into his highchair, he was evidently hungry. He wouldn't let me feed him more than a couple bites, so I gave over the spoon and he got a couple good spoonfuls in when he started just kinda playing with it. He also got this, for a better way to describe it, "sinister" look on his face (like when a madman in a movie contemplates his master plan) and was jabbing his spoon into the bowl of food he was eating. I hope this isn't something he is picking up from kids at Daycare.
He then decided to start wiping the mess of food on his face and got it in his hair and chair and essentially everywhere. Aimee and I are quite neat freaks and are having a hard time with him making a big mess, but trying to let aside our inner Monks to let him be a kid and explore and figure it out for himself. We have been successful to this point in keeping him from playing with the bowl too much, like picking it up or swiping it off the table, but have tried to not clean up every little splotch of food he gets on the table and himself. I don't want to give him a complex about having stuff on his hands as I have seen some kids almost have a panic attack if they get messy hands... and I don't want him to turn out like me since I can't continue eating comfortably with sticky hands or utensils.
All that said, it is amazing how well he is doing and how little help he really needs now to feed himself to his content; then he lets us help him finish eating and is fine with it. I guess he is just starting to express his individual space and initiative.