Yep feeb, that sounds about right. You can give them whatever you like, just needs to be soft enough for them to gum (unless he's got teeth already).
Brocolli is a great one to start with. Pumpkin and potato are smooshy so mean more mess - but lots of fun for babies.
We gave veg & fruit from the start and have more recently started with eggs & some meat and more complex stuff. DS loves nectarines & apricots, which are very easy for him to eat, as are soft pears and bananas.
Sometimes we spoon feed him stuff - when he'll suffer it.... mostly he likes to feed himself.
For a rice 'mixer' with other stuff we use a rice porridge, which can be cooked up like regular porridge, but is made from brown rice and doesn't contain any other additives and stuff like is in farex.


Recently we've made beef rissoles, which he loved! Made a huge mess and most went on the floor, but he really enjoyed it. Oh and some fish at christmas cooked with garlic and chilli, he loved that too.