Brooklyn Turns One!

I can't believe my baby is already one.  Time has been flying by.  The poor little girl was so sick on the day of her party that I didn't get a single cute picture.  Since we didn't really know many people in town we just had a bbq with a few friends for her birthday but Brooklyn had a 103 degree fever and just wanted to be held by her mama all day.  I had put a lot of effort into making a special cake for her because we are having a hard time figure out foods that don't upset her stomach.  So I made a gluten free, sugar free, milk free chocolate cake and she didn't even want to look at it.  It took her almost 2 weeks after her birthday before she ate a piece from the freezer.  She did end up loving it so all the effort wasn't in vain.

Here she is when she finally agreed to try her birthday cake.  She was pretty skeptical (as was I) until she put it in her mouth.

Brooklyn is so darn independent and strong-willed just like everyone else in the family.  She doesn't want help doing anything and thinks she should be able to do just what the big kids do.  She isn't much of a talker like the other kids were.  Around her first birthday she probably only said mom, dad, shoes, and Elsa (from Frozen) on a regular basis.  But she understands everything that is going on around her and is learning some signs to help her communicate.  She knows how to say "please", "thank you", "milk", "more", "eat", "drink", and "book".  I love to see how enthusiastically she does them when she wants something really bad.  "More food please" is just a panic of flailing arms.

Brooklyn has a love-hate relationship with the dog, Zoey.  She wants to be her best friend but then gets so frustrated when she knocks her down or steals her toys.  But they have moments when they are great together.

Brooklyn is quite the fashionista, which should be apparent from one of her first words being "shoes".  She loves all the accessories at Target, but who can blame her.

I love the fact that my little baby is a book "reading" machine.  She has an amazing attention span for books and will sit to be read to for a long time and flip through board books constantly.  I love this sweet, fiesty, opinionated baby more than words can describe.