Kristie, I am at the same point with Charlie at 13 months. I have held off for fear of mess, but need to let go of my houseproudness I think, and let him go for it! (The battle of the spoons is getting ridiculous!)

From memory, with Olivia, I let her go for it at around 11 months......but I kept her meals topped up with lots of cheese sticks for finger food, and so I figured even if the chunky mush didn't actually hit her tummy, plenty of cheese etc would.....skinless sausage was another one, as well as veggie sticks etc.......so an increase in good finger foods whilst letting them get messy will likely be fine I reckon!

Luckily Charlie still lets me feed him pureed fruit (he is a fruit addict!) and yogurt, so I know I can still get something into him!

Good luck.........get a huge splat mat (I am off to Spotlight tomorrow to buy a couple of meters of oil-cloth........LOL!)