Leeza is 2 1/2 today!!!

wow! what a change for Ms. Leeza in a year! The above picture was taken on 3/5/09, when she was 1 1/2. She has changed SO much in a year.

Here is Ms. Leeza Grace at 2 1/2...







My sweet girl is 2 1/2 years old today. She changes so much everyday. The thing I notice the most is her language and vocabulary is just growing in leaps and bounds. She used to say "addat" for "elephant" and "aaka" for "soska", but a couple weeks ago she mastered "elephant" and 'SOSKA" and she says them VERY clearly. Now we are working on LEEZA instead of "eeza". She talks NON STOP and is starting to form her own opinions about things...like which shoes she wants to wear and which jeans (yikes) but fortunately, so far, I agree with all her choices. Today, she really wanted to wear her kitty boots, but I told her we could wear them when we got home, because her other pink boots fit her better and would stay on better at school. She bought it and was agreeable (thank goodness!)

She is growing growing growing physically as well. I have really noticed some of her 2t jammies are just TOO small these days. I just got her 3t's at Old Navy and they LOOK so big and tall, but they fit! Leeza is 28 lbs and 36 1/2 inches tall. :) She is wearing 2t and 3t, depending on the brand. My favorite clothes for her right now are the custom boutique handmade ones I find on ebay. SO CUTE!! I am a sucker for ruffle pants and jeans. She was wearing some at the mall last week and this older man told me she looked like one of those figure skaters at the olympics. HA! Clearly, he is not up on "toddler girl fashion". :)

She cracks me up on a daily basis, and can also be infuriating as well. Last week, in particular, she started these "crying jags" when she didn't get what she wanted. I CANNOT STAND THAT! If you are NOT hurt, then don't cry. It's like nails on a chalkboard. I know part of it was that we had to wake her up everyday at 7 to take Sean to school, as Joe was traveling and usually he takes Sean. Leeza usually sleeps until 8:30, so an hour and a half really made her cranky. Her natural bedtime is between 9 and 10. If we put her down earlier, she is up and down AT LEAST 10 times which is super annoying. :) This week has been MUCH better, but she is still "testing testing testing" the limits to see of course, what she can get away with. I pray she is QUICKLY learning that crying/whining DOES NOT WORK. I tell her to go in her room and go to bed until she can stop crying. Invariably, she comes out in a few minutes proclaiming 'Leeza nice now!'

The most hilarious thing is when she tells Sean..'Sean-TAKE A SHOWER! YOU STINK SEAN'
It totally cracks me up. :) She also will pick his stinky socks up from the chair when he often removes them to watch TV. It annoys her to have things "Out of place". If Joe leaves his shoes in the living room, she carries them back to our closet. She has to pick her books up off the floor before she goes to bed. She LOVES clean up time at school. She loves to help mommy sort laundry and put it in the washing machine and the dryer. She LOVES to "help mommy" and actually, she is a pretty decent helper. :)

She still loves Sesame Street and Elmo. I can't really get her to watch any other kid show on tv, although she was interested in some PBS show about Lions reading. :) She LOVES books, and since she has mastered her uppercase letters, we have started on lowercase letters. Sometimes I think she has a photographic memory.
The other day in the tub she was putting letters on the edge of the tub and telling me what they were. She had a G and I said "G" for GIRL. She said NO NO NO NO mommy, G IS FOR GOAT!! Goat is the example in one of her favorite books. :)
Ever since we went to Brody's birthday party and Spiderman was there, she sees spiderman EVERYWHERE,and wanted a spiderman shirt at Old Navy. It was a baby boy shirt, so I told her no, but If i see some spidey jammies, I will get her those. :)

Her favorite place to eat is Chick Fil A. Whenever we see the logo, she yells..CHICK FIL A...choc milk, french fries and dip and chicken!! When we go there, sometimes once a week, she walks up to the counter and orders herself....it cracks me up. I feel like Sean, at 11, JUST started looking at the waiter or waitress to order a few months ago, and Leeza orders at 2. HA! :)

I just signed her up for 3 days a week at preschool next year. She currently does 2 days (9-12) and she just loves it. She will be repeating the 2's class again because her birthday falls on Sept 5th, 5 days past the cut off. I really adore her teachers and they seem to think Leeza will shine being the oldest and a "leader". I can tell that school, and her age, has really helped her attention span, when we go to gymnastics and Kindermusik, and her lil art class.

We went to the mall on Tuesday and she was just so much fun.She held my hand,and had a blast in stores, trying on hats, etc. She was a real hoot to shop with. This is a vast improvement from our mall trips even a couple months ago. :)

She is a typical 2 1/2 year old, always on the go. She is happy running and jumping around. Some of the pictures I took today really capture her personality. :) I love this lil girl SO very much. She is just precious and has a tender heart. I love how she kisses me when I have a boo boo. Her new favorite thing is after her bath to be wrapped up in a towel like a "Leeza burrito". She tells me, "Mommy, I want to be an Eeza burrito" then I hold her like a baby and she says "Eeza is mommy's baby" and the she laughs and says "noooooooooooo! silly Eeza....Eeza is mommy's BIG GIRL"
It's sometimes hard to bellieve this is the same lil girl who HATED being held like a baby and that I didn't think was the "cuddly type". As independent as she is, she often likes me to pick her up, or, "HOld Eeza's hand mommy" and will sit in my lap for 20 books OR MORE if she can get away with it. I'm so glad my sweet baby girl knows what it feels like to be loved by her family. It just makes me sad though to think of all orphans who DON'T know that feeling. I just have a hunch that my heart will be torn when we visit all the children in Kazakhstan, and I will come home begging Joe to go back and adopt again.