Life With Ella

We decided that we needed to get a little more “aggressive” about Ella trying to use the potty. Part of it is us being a little lazy – not being patient enough to let her run around without a diaper for as long as it takes, and the other part is Ella just enjoying using her diaper. She communicates so well and she knows what’s going on so we decided that we would try something else. We filled 2 jars with all different flavor jellybeans and have one downstairs and one upstairs (where the potties are). We told her that if she made a pee or poop on the potty that she would get a jellybean. She has never had a jellybean before so this was pretty exciting for her. As soon as we told her that she would get a jellybean if she went to the bathroom, she said, “I have to pee”. It took a lot longer than that. It took about an hour – a lot of whining, a bath, about 5 stories and some chamomile tea. When she finally peed, she was so excited – she couldn’t believe it! We gave her 4 jellybeans that she picked out. One was cherry, one watermelon, one cotton candy and a chocolate one. She also did a little dance around her room. Hopefully the jellybean training will continue to work.

This is Ella when I came home from work today. We went to the elevator to wait for mommy. Ella is still recovering from her stomach virus. She’s doing really well, but her appetite isn’t exactly right and her nap today was over 3 hours. That’s why she looks a little like a wreck – but what a cute wreck.

Hooray!

Here is a little clip of Ella singing “We’re Off To See The Wizard” from the Wizard of Oz. She learned this all by herself by watching the movie. She’s great at making up words.

Ella woke up this morning looking for her “Happy New Year hat”. Once she found the pile of them, she handed them out to us –  the same colors that we wore last night! What a memory this kid has. Anyway, Grandma and Papa left this afternoon. It was such a wonderful thing to have them here for a week. Today when Ella woke up from her nap, first she said, “Where is Mommy?” and I told her that Mommy was at the movies and then she said, “Where are Grandma and Papa?” and I told her that they were on an airplane going back to New Jersey. She smiled. Here are two pictures with Grandma and Papa from this morning.

Good thing for Papa that we didn’t bring his blue hat home!

True love

Today we had a really great day. It was a little rainy/misty out, but we all decided to take a walk up to the SFMOMA. There was a really cool exhibit there called “Take your time: Olafur Eliasson”. The exhibit is all about the senses – he does a lot of stuff with light, smell and moisture. Ella loved it. She sat in one room for about 5 minutes on the ground on mommy’s lap looking at the colors changing. She kept telling us that she wanted to go to the next room. We went into the regular museum and she even loved it there. She was so amazing at the museum. We all had lunch afterwards and then Ella went down for a nap. After the nap, Ella got all dressed up in her ballet outfit and danced around for Grandma and Papa. Ella even got to spend a little bit of time with Stella and Juliet this evening. When Stella saw Ella in her ballet outfit, she immediately told her parents that she wanted to be in her ballet outfit too. We had a great dinner and watched the football game with papa. The Giants almost won the game. Ella cheered along. Ella is now sleeping after a bath and some bedtime stories.

Mommy and grandma on the way to the museum

Ella and grandma on the way to the exhibit

“Everything is beautiful at the ballet”

Notice Ella’s friend ballerina Zoe on the bench

Ella the ballerina drummer

After dinner, Ella asked mommy to make her some chamomile tea…and she loved it!

Ella had a very busy day today with Grandma, Papa, Jesse and Heather. Sunny and I took the “day off” and went to a very cool place called iFlySF. We went to this place that has this silo type structure that simulates a free fall. We basically went sky diving indoors. It was really cool and I am trying to get the video off this DVD we got there so I can post our “jumps”. It was a blast. We had such a great time and it was so wonderful to know that Ella was having a fantastic day. Ella and Co. took a walk downtown, had lunch at Nordstrom, went to the Lucky Kid store and picked up some amazing clothes, went to the carousel on the way home, and took a long nap. Sunny and I came home at around 4:30 and we headed out to dinner at around 6:30. Here are some pictures from dinner.

I want my food!!!

Ella loves drinking tea.

Hanging out with Uncle Jesse and Aunt Heather

Today (December 12) is Papa Steve’s birthday.  We love you papa.  Here is a video message from Ella.

Sunny made “No Pudge Brownies” tonight.  Ella had a real treat!  (Don’t worry…the only thing you add to the mix is vanilla yogurt – no raw eggs or anything funny like that.

Today, Ella spent a lot of time together in the morning and afternoon. Sunny went to the gym and then ran some errands and then finally got a massage. It was a chanukah gift from me and Ella. I think she had a great time. Ella and I went to South Park and went on the swings, then we crunched leaves and looked for birds. We had lunch at the Java House – some grilled cheese and french fries and then we came home and Ella took a nap. Sunny came home and I took off for a little while. At around 5:30, we left to go to Phyllis and Michael’s Chanukah party. It was lots of fun…lots of kids…lots of sweet people. Here are some pictures from the night and a video at the end of Ella getting even better at the drums.

Have a beautiful Monday.

Ella woke up too early for me to deal with so I brought her into our bed and we watched Dora for a while

Here’s Ella checking out some leaves.

Looking up for some birds

Here’s a great shot of the candles being lit.

DRUMMING VIDEO

We started today off by taking Ella to a trial dance class at My Gym. The class was at 9:30am and Ella was still sleeping at 8:45. I woke her up, tried to get her to eat a little breakfast and took her on the train to the class with Helen and Stella. I think I got her up too late because she just didn’t want to stay in the class. She was not herself at all. She was fine after the class was over. We had brunch with Debby, Toby and Rachel which was sweet. After lunch, we tried to get Ella to take a nap. She was so tired but she was just fooling around in her crib. She called out to Sunny to change her diaper and as Sunny was changing her diaper Ella pointed her finger at Sunny and said, “Hey mommy – I have an important question to ask you”…Sunny was laughing so hard but said, “What do you want to ask me?” Ella said, “Does mommy want to play with Legos with Ella?” I heard Sunny laughing all the way from downstairs. Tonight we went to Kate and Julie’s Chanukah party. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of kids there and Ella had a good time. We came home and Helen and Ron were putting the lights on their Christmas tree. Ella walked into their place, touched the tree and said, “Oh my God”. I think she really loved the tree.

Here we are lighting the candles with the other kids.

A big huggie with mommy

Here’s a beautiful family photo

Helen took the day off of work today and we took the girls to the Bay Area Discovery Museum across the Golden Gate Bridge.   It was a beautiful day and the girls had a blast.  We highly recommend this place.  There is plenty of creative and fun stuff to do.  Here is a little video of the girls from today.

I have a pretty bad cold and Ella does too. So far, Sunny has steered clear of it…she’s still recovering from her terrible cough from a few weeks ago! I have been going to work (I stayed home on Monday) but I have been a little slow and exhausted so my blog has reflected my fatigue. Ella is such a trooper. She was a little more tired today – she actually took a 3 hour nap and missed her music class, but her love of life and everything around her shines through. Here are two pictures from tonight.

Ella drinking her chocolate soy milk.

Ella and Tucker, Becca’s dog and one of Ella’s favorite friends