21 months!!

My baby turns 21 months old tomorrow...and I like to do a blog baby book post each month so I remember her in all of her glory. :) We are leaving for Nashville for Kazapoolza tomorrow so I won't have time to do her "official" 21 month post on the actual day she turns 21 months (on the 5th) but that's ok...this picture was taken today and her antics are still fresh in my memory.

20 months was a BIG month for Leeza. It seems to me like she changed the most this month. Her biggest accomplishment is she is offically POTTY TRAINED! She tells us when she has to go potty, which, unfornately, is, like every 20 minutes. :) The travel potty has been a LIFESAVER and I am not kidding. Joe asked me ,as she said she had to go pee in the middle of dinner and I got her up to take her potty, what we were going to do this weekend with her, carry the potty everywhere? I responded..well..YES...that is exactly what we're going to do. My blog friends won't be suprised. Plus, I am sure other parents have gone thru the same thing. :) Our next hurdle is getting her to go on the "big potty" so that will make it a little easier. I am still very proud of her though-even though potty training takes a lot of patience from Mommy, I know that she will learn to hold it longer and longer. I hope that when she goes to preschool next September that it is more second nature by then. :)

She started swimming lessons this week, and she is doing well. The first day I was in the pool with her, and the teacher, and she did pretty well. The second day the teacher had car problems, so Sean and I just swam with her for about an hour. The third day was awful. She cried the entire lesson and did not want to cooperate and clung to Mommy. Today, I decided to stay in the house hidden. Since we had to make up the missed day, Emily, her teacher, spent an HOUR in the pool with her. Leeza did GREAT! She did much better without mommy. She had to take a break to go potty, but that was the only time she saw me. It was fun for me to watch thru the blinds and hear Emily's encouragement. I was hoping I did the right thing springing for private lessons for 3 weeks, (it's so NOT cheap) but after seeing her in action today, I am happy with my decision. :)

Leeza's vocabulary is increasing daily, but her favorite new word is "No". It's so funny-we can tell she is getting close to 2. Even when she means yes, she says "No". It's so cute though. :) She is also turning into a lil flirt! I went to Tech Data today to drop off birthday gifts for 2 of my best friends who are vendors who call on Tech Data. I can't believe it will be 3 years since I left (at the end of August). They convinced me to come in and say Hello to everyone. It was so strange being back, but it was really fun seeing everyone. Leeza was running up and down the halls, with special attention to the boys. She does this thing where she shrugs her one shoulder and tilts her head.....so darn adorable but KINDA SCARY cuz she LIKES THE BOYS ALREADY! I think maybe this is a normal girl thing, but it still freaks me out.

She is LOVING books now, and likes to plop in my lap and bring me her favorites. She is very particular about which ones she wants you to read. Elmo is a big favorite, and Brown Bear Brown Bear, and Good night Moon (yay, Sean's favorites too!). She actually stood still 10 minutes and watch an Elmo video earlier this week when I was cooking dinner. That is the longest she's stood still and paid attn to any video, except when she was confined to her car seat on our road trip to Navarre to visit the Struck family. :) It's really cute to hear her scream "Momo" (Leeza speak for Elmo) at the top of her lungs when she sees him in the video or at Target or Borders on the cover of books. Needless to say, Mommy is a big fat sucker and now she has lots of new "Momo" books. :)








She is growing, growing, growing. She has grown out of some of her cute lil shoes I just bought a couple months ago. I got her a new pair yesterday...a size 7!! They are a lil big but still! I love the way she runs-she has this lil waddle going on, but man she is fast! She has lots of energy and is getting better and better at entertaining herself for longer periods of time.

After bath, she crawls up in her daddy's lap, grabs the blanket, and hands him a stack of books to read. It's very heartwarming to mommy. :)

She is a very affectionate, happy go lucky, social butterfly. While sitting in the back of the MDX on her potty, in parking lots accross the Largo area, she waves and says Hello to people passing by (so much for being discreet!) She does pull the shy bit occasionally around strangers, but I think it's more about her being "coy". :)

She was "reading" her big brother's "Goosebumps" book, and when you open the cover, it "screams", so this is her new "suprised/scared face" that cracks me up. :)




We are having so much fun with her. I am sure I am probably bias, but she seems to just get more beautiful everyday. She is such a joy and I love watching her learn. She has a lovely lil spirit that I hope will just continue to grow. It's nice to be beautiful on the outside, but "pretty is, as pretty does" and what really matters is what she's like on the inside. :)

She LOVES Miles, and he really puts up with her abuse. We were at the vet with Miles so I caught a couple funny pics on my infamous iphone. She threw her bow out so we put it in Miles hair. :) HA!





Happy 21 months Leeza Grace! We have known you for 10 months now, and you sure light up our lives!!