She was just 17 (mos) and you know what I mean....

and the way she looked was way beyond compaaaare..
I'd never danced with another....WHOOOOOOO--When I saw her, standin there.....

The Beatles sure had it right!!! :)

My "Baby Kaz" is 17 months old today. The longer she is here, the more and more obvious it becomes that she truly was meant to be our daughter. She is (complete with stomping her feet temper tantrums) a "perfect lil Serra". Not that she is a perfect lil angel all the time, with a bow in her hair and a spring to her step (HARDLY!), BUT she just fits in so well in our life. I continue to be completely awed and humbled (and yes, occasionally frustrated) by this lil spitfire of a lil girl.





She is into EVERYTHING, all the time. She definitely jives with my busy life, as she is not one to like to "stay home" and chill. She thrives on being out and about. It's a good thing too-because we are busy with Sean's activities after school too and she is a trooper about being confined in the ergo during basketball games. The first game or two were pretty horrendous, she only wanted OUT and screamed loudly in protest. When I would try to let her out, she would not stay in the area where she was allowed, and tried to run on the court. It was GREAT fun (NOT!) Aftter the first two games, she got much better and happily stayed in her ergo, as long as there were snacks and cheerleaders next to us to keep her entertained. She is defintely a charmer and loves to "work the crowd" and luckily for her, all the kids are enchanted by her and the adults give her TONS of attention. It works quite well for the diva that she is. :)




She is growing, growing, growing. Her 12 month pants are becoming "high waters", and I've had to get rid of shoes that we bought in December, even though she still tries to cram her feet into them. :) She is SUCH a girly girl, and loves her bracelet, and her "girly clothes". She MOST DEFINTELY knows when she looks cute. I got her her first pair of shorts and flip flops at Target yesterday. The 18 month shorts are big in the waist (she totally is a plumber) but fit her "athletic" lil legs. She loved her flip flops, but it takes practice to learn to walk in them. :)








One of her new, rather annoying "tricks" is that she removes her shoes AND socks whenever we get into the car. She also will not stay away from the water cooler, the dog's water and food bowl, and the pantry. She is always in there dragging cans of soup out, or emptying boxes of granola bars and oatmeal. I feel like all I ever say is "No, No, No Leeza, Walk away Leeza, that's not safe Leeza, LEEZA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" It is exhausting, but on the other hand, I like her curiosity and I love to see how fast she is learning. It's SO amazing how much these children understand!! We talked to Tatiana on skype this morning and Leeza showed Tatiana her pretty bracelet, her earrings, her head, her tongue her mouth, and her Ms. America wave. It's so neat to see how excited Tatiana gets to see how the kids she helped unite with families are thriving! She said she could not believe a few months ago that Leeza did not even understand English and now she is so smart! :)

It's so funny how when I had Sean, I was fully prepared for the "rough and tumble" boy, the climbing, the into everything, etc. kind of kid. Sean was NOT that kind of a toddler. He was VERY laid back, mellow, and loved to sit and watch videos and even went to his first movie when he was 18 months. He was such an easy baby. Then..comes Leeza. She does everything that I was warned about that boys do...climbing, into EVERYTHING, won't sit still to watch any kind of video, and wants to swing HIGH and slide down huge slides. I love how brave she is, but it's rather exhausting!! I took her to a gymnastics place yesterday for an hour of "Open gym" (only $5) and she LOVED it. They had foam pits, trampolines, and all kinds of cool stuff. She was very brave and loved being thrown into the foam pit. Howevhe oer, after about 30 minutes, she had a total meltdown. She was rolling around on the floor, and screaming. It was really weird. I think she got totally overstimulated. After about 5 minutes, she wanted to be held for awhile, then she resumed playing. About 5 minutes before our hour was up, she went and got my shoes and waved bye bye, and grabbed my hand. I guess she was ready to go!

I will close with a funny video of Leeza after we put on her new outfit and her flip flops. As you can see, Miles is always close by. She drives me crazy because she constantly sneaks him food and gives him her food, and then cries for more and gets really mad when I tell her NO, stop giving it to the dog. She then WAGS her finger at Miles and tells him 'No, no, no' when SHE is the one who gives him the food.
She KILLS me. :)