ANSONIA - Tomorrow is Dec. 12, 2012….yes, 12-12-12.

It may not mean much to some people, but it does to Brooklyn Elisabeth-Leigh Kaffenberger, who turns 12.

“I’m excited; I’m going swimming” she said in a telephone conversation mid-morning on Saturday, a few hours before her swimming party at the Versailles YMCA.

Because of her 12th birthday being on such a significant date, her mother, Ashley, planned the party.

“It’s extra special,” said Ashley.

On Sunday, Brooklyn began practice for the sixth-grade basketball team.

She is the first child of Ashley McCleskey and Steve Kaffenberger and first grandchild for Paul and Renea McCleskey and Steve and Tammy Kaffenberger.

Brooklyn was born at 4:27 a.m. on Dec. 12, 2000, in the middle of an ice storm.

According to her grandmother Renea, “she weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 1 ounce, 19 1/2 inches with a full head of black hair and bright dark eyes.”

While Brooklyn’s mother had some complications that required immediate surgery, Brooklyn was perfect, they said.

“She has grown into a beautiful young lady who enjoys hanging out with her friends, dancing and listening to Taylor Swift,” said Renea.

Brooklyn is a sixth-grader at Ansonia and thoroughly enjoys school. She has struggled with Scoliosis in the past few years, and wears a day brace and switches to a night brace everyday to hopefully straighten a severe curve.

“But through it all, Brooklyn has a smile and a positive attitude,” Renea said.

Brooklyn has two sisters and two brothers, one of whom is deceased but always remembered.