25 weeks

Look at that big girl, trying to sit up on her own!

However, the next picture shows that, try as she might to be independent, Sloane still needs an assist from my mom. It turns out we both do.

During Sloane's 25th week, we relied heavily on my mom. She was Andy's co-parent while I was in LA for a couple days. She was my co-parent while Andy spent three days in Tahoe. She was Riley's BFF while Sloane and I were catching up with old friends. And, most importantly, she was our night nanny caring for Sloane during her increasingly frequent night wakings -- making her a saint!

Thank you so much, mom!

Staying for an entire week, my mom was there to witness Sloane's first effort at solid foods. The girl seemed to take right to it, immediately grabbing the spoon from me and feeding herself. But once she started to really taste the food, she seemed to have second thoughts.

That first food was avocado. Nearly two weeks later, she will humor me feeding her avocados and also seems to like carrots. But she is no fan of pears or bananas, spitting them out indignantly. Mostly what we get are faces like those below. Dubious, at best.

Mom took Riley to an awesome science and nature center -- his favorite things next to ice cream -- while I chilled with my friend Suzie and her baby. We enjoyed the perfect weather in the backyard and the girls became fast friends.

Finally, in Sloane's 25th week, I discovered that she likes to be tickled. Here are a couple of my favorite tickle videos. The last half of the second video especially makes me smile. Enjoy!