Life With Ella

Tonight we celebrated Amy’s birthday a day late by taking her to the ballgame. Becca was supposed to come with us but she fell and really hurt her foot during work. Sunny took Becca to the hospital to get x-rays and Amy came over to pick up Ella and me. Ella was really tired – no nap today, so she went to the game with her blankie and binky. Amy and Ella did some serious bonding before the game – it was really sweet. Once we got to the game, Ella took out her binky, shared a bag of popcorn and some cotton candy with Amy and then fell asleep. Mommy joined us in around the 5th inning. Becca’s foot isn’t broken but it’s really badly bruised. We hope you feel better Becca.

Ella and Amy…

Ella and her pals Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

I went for a massage today and mommy and Becca took Ella, Towby and Tucker to the dog park and then to get some yogurt. Later in the afternoon, we went over to the Kim/Arena’s and had a great dinner. The girls were so sweet with each other. Emily came to dinner too, so we had the girls eat dinner at their own table. They were doing cheers with each other (shot glasses of club soda) and did a great job eating dinner. After dinner, at Ella’s request, the girls all took a bath together. It was a really fun night.

Having fun with Towby.

Eating yogurt with Becca.

YUM!

Drawing with Juliet.

Cheers.

Getting love from Juliet.

Dancing in the mirror. (Notice Ron in the background dancing too!)

Today we went across the street to a Giant’s Community fund event at the ballpark. There was face painting and people out on the field hitting and fielding balls. Basically we had free reign of the ballpark. Ella had a blast. She had her hand and face painted. We had her in a really cute outfit – even got her to wear leggings and a long sleeved shirt. At the last minute, Ella decided that she needed to wear her purple tutu over the outfit. Needless to say – she looked crazy and adorable. After the event, we went to Debby and Toby’s for a going away party for Rachel. It was a sweet party and Ella really had a good time.

Ella and her face/hand painting.

Here’s the whole outfit.

Ella calling the bullpen to get another pitcher in the game.

Future major leaguer?

Going home on mommy’s shoulders.

Today, Sunny and I took Ella to Children’s Day School to help her get familiar with the school and also to see the cute little toilets. It was the last day of summer camp there so there was a HUGE bouncy house that Ella got to jump in all by herself. I am happy to report that Ella also made a pee on the toilet there! It was fantastic. Ella seemed excited about going there. She met 2 of the teachers who will be in her classroom and about 3 kids who will be in her class. Ella loved watching the animals and walking in the garden. I think she is also realizing that we will be dropping her off and she’ll be on her own. She told us today that we would drop her off and then come back. At least she doesn’t think that we are all going to school together. After our trip to school, mommy went to work and Ella and I spent the afternoon together. We went downtown – Ella fell asleep for a little while in her stroller – without her pacifier. We decided today that the pacifier was only for the night and as soon as Ella went to sleep in a bed, she would stop using a pacifier at night too. She seemed pretty cool with the whole idea. We ended our downtown afternoon at the carousel where Ella rode on a horse all by herself. She told me not to hold onto her. She did a great job. Tonight, we all took a walk with the dogs and Ella got her favorite ice cream…chocolate ice cream with gummy bears.

Two of the resident animals at the school.

On the toilet at CDS.

The HUGE bouncy house

Bye bye baby swings!

Big girl on the carousel.

Another day without any accidents! Today was the first day that we went to My Gym with no diapers. Ella was fantastic. She made a pee in the toilet in the beginning of class and then about 5 minutes before class ended, she peed on the toilet again! We went to Amici’s for lunch and Ella went to the bathroom there too! Stella and Juliet came over for a little while in the early evening. Ella was squealing when she heard them in the hallway. Tonight, we went out to an event sponsored by Community Works – the non profit that I work for. There were a lot of people who hadn’t seen Ella in a long time and she was great. She was shy in the very beginning but then got over herself. Guess what – she went to the bathroom on the toilet there too! Ella is phasing out her naps and was pretty tired when we left at about 7:30. Ella told mommy that she wanted to drive home. Sunny put her on her lap and let her pretend to drive a little bit. After a few minutes, we put her in her car seat and she started to cry and say, “But I want to drive home…I really want to drive home.” We told her that she had to wait until she was 17. Ella fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Here is Ella on a very slow slide at My Gym. I love the lighting in these.

Here are a couple of jumping action shots.

We were just fooling around in the neighborhood.

Here we are at the event.

Driving home.

Today, Ella completed and entire day without any accidents. I Ella to the carousel (where she peed in a portable potty) and also to music class (where she peed on the toilet!). Tonight we went to Nama with friends of ours who live in the building and Ella peed twice and made a poop! We can’t believe how quickly this transition has happened. Two more weeks and Ella starts preschool. What a trip. Ella seems pretty excited about it. I think we are going to take her there on Friday so that she can get a feel for the place and hopefully use those cute toilets that they have there.Here is Ella with John and Kim. She usually doesn’t give it up for people so quickly. We all had a lot of fun.Ella and one of her favorite activities…eating ice cream in the lobby.

On Thursday morning, Ella woke up with a really bad cold and was pretty miserable. Her nose was running and she had a fever and she just wasn’t having a good time. Aside from the cold, Ella is still in the middle of potty training. She is still doing really well, but she had a few slips during the fever. Grandma and papa came back on Saturday afternoon to spend the evening with us and sleep over. Ella was really surprised and so happy. We went to Acme together last night. Ella is pretty much on the mend. Today grandma and papa left. We were all sad to see them go, but we will see them again in September. It was a beautiful day in our neighborhood so we thought we would take a ride down to Crissy Field to see these globes that artists painted. We got there and it was so windy and Ella was miserable saying that it was cold (that never happens) and that she wanted to go to the museum. We had no museum plans, but decided to go to the Exploratorium which is about 2 minutes away from where we were. We had a lot of fun there. Ella passed out in the car on the way home and she finally fell asleep just now – rough night.

We were actually able to get Ella to wear a long sleeved shirt and leggings under her butterfly dress!

I wonder what Mommy, Ella and Towby are looking for.

Ella looks like such a big kid here.

Here we are on the way to the doggie park.

Grandma and papa caught up with us and here they are walking with Ella to Phils Coffee.

Ella and grandma focusing on an art project at Acme.

Goodnight. I took this picture right before the fire alarm went off in the building and we all had to go outside for about 20 minutes!

This is right before I took grandma and papa to the airport. We love you guys – see you soon.

Mommy and Ella playing with a sand wheel at the exploratorium.

We both loved playing the xylophone with Ella.

Ella dancing to some crazy music.

Ella really loved playing this drum machine.

This was a giant bubble table. Some of the other parents wouldn’t share the wand so mommy made bubbles out of her hands. Pretty cool bubble making mommy!

Grandma and papa flew in last night for a quick visit on their way to a meeting in Napa. Ella was so happy when she woke up this morning to find grandma and papa in the apartment. Ella even made a poop on the potty for grandma this morning! The potty training is going really well. Ella is still in training, but she is doing an amazing job. This afternoon, we went to the De Young museum and saw the Chihuly exhibit. Ella loved the exhibit (so did we). She just kept saying, “Wow – look at that…what beautiful colors…I see an anemone…I see a jellyfish…WOW!” It was beautiful to watch her. After the exhibit we ran around for a little while in the sculpture garden behind the museum. Tonight, we went to Nama and had a really fun dinner. Our cousin Ester who lives in NJ sent grandma here with some little troll dolls for Ella. Ella loved them and took them for dinner. Thanks for the dolls Ester!

Giving grandma a kiss on the way into the museum. Also, notice that Ella wasn’t wearing a sweater or jacket. She decided that papa would be a good blanket.

Here are a few things that we saw at the Chihuly exhibit.

Pretty beautiful and happy stuff!

Grandma and Ella walking towards the apples.

Running around the sculptures.

Ella is reading a Dora book to grandma and papa.

Going out to dinner.

Ella and her trolls at Nama. Ella named her trolls….the one with the pink hair and sunglasses is Ron, the one with the purple hair and belly button is Helen, the one with red hair and a graduation cap is Stella and the smallest one is Juliet.