Oh, my beautiful Brooklyn. You are such a big girl to me, but still my little baby. I can't believe it's been one year since you came to our family! Your daddy and I love you SO much, we can't believe how we ever lived without you. Every day you do something that makes us say, "Oh my gosh, she is so cute, I love her SO MUCH!!!" You make us so happy, even if you are getting more stubborn and getting an attitude. It's a cute one at that. Sometimes when you don't get what you want or we take something away from you that you aren't supposed to be playing with, you start doing a small cry and put your head in your hands and look so hurt. It is the cutest little thing ever, even if you are being a cry baby! We worry lately that we are spoiling you because we just love you so much!
You love to share your food with mommy and daddy. We will walk over to you when you are eating and you will stick out your hand with your food and put it right in our mouths. It sure tastes yummy :). I love that you are sharing and I hope that you will be this good at sharing as your get older. You love ALL other kids and babies. It is like you know that they are a small person like you. You think your cousins are so funny and fun to be around. And they love you so much too.
You love spending time with mom and dad. When dad works, I try to come and put you to sleep with me in bed. It has only worked once! And that one time, you were the wildest sleeper I have ever seen! For 6 months I have tried to have you come and sleep in my bed, and you wake up, and think it's play and party time! You laugh and giggle and kick all the blankets off. So that then prompts me to put you back in your crib, which you easily will go back into. I just want to hold you and listen to your little giggles all day long, but then I sometimes have to be productive I guess!
You love the songs mommy and daddy sings to you. Some of your favorites are "If You're Happy and you know it", "Popcorn Popping", "You Are My Sunshine", and some children's church songs. You clap for me after I sing to you, and it makes me feel good! You also LOVE R&B and Hip Hop. You do this head bob dance while you move your eyebrows up and down. This was your first "version" of dancing and singing. After you turned one, in this 13th month, you started dancing with your hands and arms and shaking your hips and legs.
You LOVE to read! You love books and turning the pages. We leave books in your crib and so when you wake up, you will sit there and just flip through the pages. It's so sweet. You love to have us read to you and turn the pages for us even before we are done reading that page. You like touch and feel books and the few that we have, you know where to feel on every page. You also like to color and draw, which your doctor said was amazing because that's not really normal for your age. You know who to pretend- one day, the 3 of us were in Sam's Club. I saw you putting something into your mouth, and there was nothing there. Your daddy and I then kept watching you, and you pretended to pick something up with your 2 fingers, put it in your mouth, and pretend to eat! We were AMAZED! It was so sweet and cute. You give great open mouthed kisses :). You are pretty selective about when you want to give them though. And you don't give them to just anybody. Daddy and I are the only ones who have gotten REAL kisses from you . Papa Gates really wants one, but you fake him out and lean in to him, and then turn your head just as he is about to give you a kiss.
You are so delicate and great with your hands. You have been able to pick things up with your finger and thumb since you were really young, long before what's average. Your Papa Conley thinks you are going to do something that involves your hands, like a doctor who does surgery or an artist. You like to do what the Conley's call "The Shakes". You will put your hands in fists, and then shake really tiny and fast. What's so funny, is that you know you are being funny when this happens! In this 13th month, you have started giving high 5's. I didn't teach you that, so your daddy must have! You have waved bye for a while now, and will say bye to every animal you pass on our walks.
You give the best cuddles when you want to. Now, in your 13th month, you give loves and cuddles all the time! And to anyone who wants them! It's so sweet and gentle. You give us pats just like we give you a pat on the back. The other night, I went in to your bedroom and you were awake. I picked you up and you put your head on my shoulder and your arm around my neck. I didn't want to put you down, and I didn't! I sat there and held you for a long time. I hope you never stop wanting to give me loves. You LOVE it when your daddy comes home from work. You get so excited and you say his name as he walks through the door. It's usually right after you wake up in the morning, so you are usually pretty perky.
You love to walk with your push toy. We tease you that you are like a little old grandma with her walker. You will plow into the back of my heels and you will use your walker with great ease. You just whip that thing around to turn around and go so fast. We have little red, green, and yellow marks in our hallway from you turning around and scraping the walls. Even though they have messed up the walls, we still think they are pretty cute. You like to follow me around the house when I'm vacumming with your push toy. You get in my way, but I don't really care because it's so cute! You love going up and down stairs. Neenie will go up and down with you every time you go to her house. On April 30th, you took your first official steps! You walked across the living room! Then, you decided to not walk again for 2 weeks. Now, you walk all over the place! You have mastered getting up on your own this week also (May 16th). You also know how to get up onto the couch. You stick your leg high up into the air onto the couch, and pull yourself up.
You are a great sleeper most of the time. I have just started to figure out your nap schedule, and it makes me happy as well as you! You rarely give us trouble when we put you down to bed. IF you cry, you only cry for maybe 2-5 minutes. But if we put you down, and you aren't really ready to go to sleep, you will just play with your stuffed animals and read your books until you fall asleep.
Everyone comments on how you have such beautiful big eyes. You really do have beautiful big eyes! I never noticed it until I looked at other babies. You also have your daddies long, beautiful eyelashes, which I am so happy about! In this 13th month, you have started what the Conley's also call, "The Look". You look at us with your chin down, eyes up, like you are staring us down! It's so funny. You say mama and dada with great ease. Other than that, I think you said "Baby" on your birthday. Then, on May 17th, you said "Birdie" and "Doggie" when we were out on a walk. You have said birdie quite a few times since then. I think you might have also said grammy, once, and neenie. And then one day, when Papa and Grammy Gates were coming over, you kept saying "Papa" over and over again. But once they got here, you didn't say anything! But you sure love to talk and just babble.
Oh, Miss B, I love you so much. You are and were such a wonderful, easy baby. When we were in the hospital, we never even thought about sending you to the nursery. We never needed to! You slept like a dream and never cried. Now that you are older and getting into things, you are all over the place. We are constantly trying to not let you open drawers and things because you get your little fingers or hand caught. Then you forget about it or just don't care, and go back and do it again!
Love, Mama and Daddy
