Brookie Love

My little baby is turning 1 year old on Tuesday. This is what she did yesterday:

In the morning, she overturned some ant-poison. It isn't technically poison--it's this syrupy stuff that entices ants, and then they go up a ramp and drown in a sea of sweetness. So Brooklyn saved ants by spilling the contents all over one area of the kitchen floor. She was two feet from me. I got to mop the kitchen during her nap.

Then, when she woke up, she was playing in my bathroom while I put on makeup. She had the drawer open under the sink, and I thought that would be fine because everything in there was capped. And then I heard GUSHING liquid. Brooklyn found some Target-brand listerine that wasn't apparently all the way closed, and dumped it on our bathroom mat. So Brooklyn and the bathroom mat got a bath in mint-green bath water, and I got to mop my bathroom. I did save the mat, by the way. My quick thinking (applause, please) resulted in a mat that is again white, turquoise, and navy blue. No mint green in sight.

In the evening, Brooklyn had a lovely time gouging the toilet paper off the toilet paper roll until it was time to go to a wonderful birthday party. . .where she got her head stuck under a picnic table. As I told Doug, "She was very happy all day, but she was ON one!"

I know it's cliche to have a one-year-old on a perpetual tear. But I am still amazed.

Here are some facts you may not know about Brooklyn:

1) She has slept in a pack-n-play almost her whole life. Her first two months were spent sleeping in my bed (or her bassinet, if the stars aligned). And her bedroom is our laundry room. I will admit to having re-washed several loads of laundry because naptime or bedtime interrupted my laundering. But that laundry room was the most appealing feature of our town-home when we got it, because we knew it meant every kid could have a room. When I feed Brooklyn in Lucy's beautiful room, I whisper, "Some day, Brooklyn. Some day, all this will be yours." Some day. (If you would like to put your baby in a pack-n-play, but worry that it won't be very comfortable for your baby, you can buy a pack-n-play mattress, like we did. It fits nicely into the pack-n-play and makes us feel humane.)

2) Brooklyn has never wanted a paci. We managed to get her to fall asleep with one in her mouth a few times as a baby, but she has never, ever thought pacis were more than toys--uninteresting ones. I tried converting her to pacis for 6 months. I probably bought almost 20 pacis, hoping one would entice her. No.

3) Correlating to number 2, Brooklyn has been our worst sleeper. She didn't start sleeping through the night consistently until about a month ago, and I tried to sleep train her 5 or 6 times (meaning for a whole week long each time). She can outcry anyone if she's mad. Not a stellar self-soother.

4) Brooklyn has learned to army crawl and really crawl, pull herself up, and cruise all during the past month. She has gotten steadier on her feet, and we're guessing she'll walk for real at 14 months. We'll see if that pans out. My niece Summerlyn held out until 20 months, so we'll see if Brooklyn literally follows in her footsteps.

5) She has two real words, and lots of mama/dada baby babble as well. Her first word was ball, and it sounds like, "Buh." Her second word is monkey, and it sounds like this: "Muh." Yep--she's articulate:).

6) Relating to the ball and monkey: Brooklyn loves playing catch. She starts flapping her wings and lifting her feet off the ground when we bounce a ball. We throw the ball to her and she throws it back. Pretty cute. And Brooklyn sleeps with two monkeys. One is a stuffed animal, and one is the top half of a monkey on a soft, square blanket. She squeezes the monkeys as I go, "Oh, love the monkeys. Love, love, love the monkeys" every night. Before putting her down to squeeze the beloved monkeys, I sing her "Up, Up in the Sky" while she rests her head on my shoulder. That's new.

7) Brooklyn kept her blue eyes. So she is mine, even if she looks just like her daddy.

8) She has two squarish top teeth, with a gap between then, and two rectangular bottom teeth, pressed together. We're envisioning some serious orthodontics in her future. 

That's it for tonight. I hope to get some great pictures of her on her birthday to post, and I'll post her stats when I get them next week.

 A letter to Brooklyn at 1:
Dear Brookie-doll,
 I love you so much. I am so deeply touched by your excitement when I come into the room. You start bouncing, and your whole face peels into happiness, radiance, welcome, and pure joy. You love me so obviously. I worried about having a third child, and you swept those fears away, just letting me know you belonged in our family. It has healed my soul to hold you. You are so strong willed--I've never seen your equal. You are demanding, and communicate clearly, even though your vocabulary is pretty limited. You let me know when it is time to eat, time to be changed, time to nap, and time to be held, or rescued from your siblings. You are one of the most important people to me, and you always will be.
Love,
Mommy