For some reason, I have had quite a few moms with problems with solids.
Sometimes makes me wonder if Jewish moms really do have a thing about
food....Anyway, Jan suggests just about everything that I urge these moms
to try. And I ALWAYS tell moms not to let meals become a battleground,
that their special bf relationship just moves into a new dimension, that
bf stops eventually, but food will be downed for a long, long time....To
make the moms feel better, I make a point of explaining that the solids
relationship is part of baby's natural development, growing up. Baby
NEEDS the freedom, the space, doing things on his own, likes making
decisions "Hmmmm, do I want the cooked carrot or the cheesecake?"
  Babies are very curious and experimentative, left on their own. If one
taste (or texture!, don't forget texture) is not liked, try another.
Plenty of stuff out there.
And forget about the silverware. That is, don't get hung up on it. Put a
spoon on the high chair table, but certainly allow the kid to eat with
her fingers. You know, sounds like she missed out starting to experiment
with feeding herself finger foods when she was about 6-8 mo. Mom was feeding
her exclusively by spoon? Maybe for this kid, it was like the newborn
being shoved into the breast and then refusing the breast......? How does
that sound? Judy K., the Sherlock Holmes of Beer Sheva