Life With Ella

Ella has a cold (again) so I decided not to take her to My Gym. It was a pretty decent day, so I took Ella to the Oakland Zoo. Ella has been talking about the zoo a lot and the Oakland Zoo is a sweet zoo that’s good for little ones. When we arrived, we went straight to the petting zoo (Ella loves goats) and then we checked out an alligator, an otter, and some snakes and lizards. Ella then told me that she wanted to see big animals so we went and saw some giraffe, tigers, elephants, monkeys, meerkats, zebras and I’m sure a few others that I can’t remember at the moment. Ella was really terrific and so excited to see all the animals. After the animals, we went to the little rides section and we rode the train and the carousel. On the way back to the car, there was a little park with a hippo tunnel and an elephant slide. Ella played really hard there. There were some other kids there – bigger kids, and Ella held her own. It was cool to watch. Tonight, we ate a great dinner and then Mommy made a huge bowl of popcorn and the three of us watched “Kiki’s Delivery Service”. What a great fun day and night.

Walking down the hallway on the way to the zoo.

Ella brushing a goat that she named Tony.

Kind of cool, kind of terrifying. Here is an underwater shot of a huge alligator with Ella’s beautiful reflection in the window.

Ella in the meerkat tunnel. She was mesmerized by these little creatures.

We watched this giraffe adjust it’s long legs so that it could drink. What beautiful animals.

Here’s the cool elephant slide.

On her way into the hippo tunnel

A LITTLE MOVIE FROM THE ZOO

Today, Sunny and I took Ella to the dentist for the first time. The dentist and the dental assistant were great, the office was great, they were so kid friendly. Ella did really well until it was time to have them take a look at her teeth. Ella cried through the whole exam. She was cooperative, opened her mouth, didn’t really struggle, but she kept on crying. They showed us how to really brush her teeth – maybe one day we’ll take a movie of it, but it takes 2 adults. Her teeth looked good – no cavities – the spaces between her teeth are actually good because that means there will be room for her adult teeth. At the end of the appointment, we all took a picture with Dr. James’ dog Chachka. Ella then thanked Dr. James and Remie (the assistant). She left the office with a new toothbrush, stickers, and these animal clickers. She didn’t seem traumatized and she agreed to go back in 6 months. It was a positive experience for all of us.

When Ella was in the bath tonight, I asked her to talk about the visit to the dentist and she did a little bit. Enjoy.

Look at those pearly whites

Whew – I went to sleep not being able to get onto this site and I was afraid that everything was erased. It’s all better so I’m not going to worry. I just wanted to post a few cute pictures of Ella from yesterday when I came home from work and a short movie showing Ella’s love of yelling these days. She loves to go to the elevator and yell. The only problem with that is that the only jerk on our entire floor lives directly in front of the elevator. He’s been known to come out and say rude things. The beautiful thing about it is that Ella doesn’t care.

Look at this big haired beauty!

Yes – this is a fake smile, but it’s so cute.

The photo is a little fuzzy from the sun, but this is one focused child.

Now for a quick video…

It was a gorgeous day today. This afternoon, we went to the park with a T-ball thing and began to teach Ella how to swing the bat. She was really funny – she loved her bat, loved running around with it, and didn’t want to give us a turn to use it. She hit really well with our help. The bat was a little big so we are going to get her something a little smaller. It was a lot of fun. After T-ball, we went home and got the dogs and took them to another park by the house. Ella insisted on walking the whole time – including going over the 4th Street bridge. Ella ran around the park and climbed to the top of “tall mountain” a very large grassy hill in the beginning of the park. She met a lot of other dogs and had so much fun. In the evening, we took advantage of gaining an hour of sunlight and went to dinner in the Ferry Building with Becca. Ella had such a great time with Becca that she ordered Sunny and I to “go away” when we were leaving the restaurant. She really wanted her alone time with Becca. We thought it was terrific.

Mommy and Ella on the way to the park in Ella’s cool ride

Mommy starting Ella early

Remember – keep your eye on the ball

OK – I’m going to pitch it to you – 2 hands on the bat

Yay! You hit the ball!

Really starting to get the hang of it

A beautiful loving moment with Mommy

It’s my bat – my bat

Walking over the Fourth Street Bridge

We made it to the top of tall mountain

Ella showing Becca her cool trick with the cups

Here’s a little video of Ella and her baseball lessons

Ella is still recovering from her cold, but we had a lot of fun today at lunch and at the park. Ella told me that she wanted to eat grilled cheese and french fries at Maria’s (she’s the daughter of the guy who owns the Java House). We went over there and had a great lunch. During lunch, Ella treated me to some amazing monologues. On the video below, first she is talking about her food and the pigeons and then she went into this Yo Gabba Gabba mantra type thing. She started out singing a song about dreams and then went into this other thing that the robot guy does. It doesn’t make too much sense if you don’t know the show, but it’s pretty entertaining anyway. After lunch, we went to the park and Ella played really well with the other kids. There were these two boys playing with cars, rolling them along the wall. Ella found a car and started doing the same thing. She kept up with them and laughed hysterically when one of the boys crashed his car into hers. It’s great to see the playing turning into actually playing together. Tonight we had dinner with Stella, Juliet and Helen (Ron is out of town) and then the girls came over to watch a movie. We started to watch The Wizard of Oz, but Stella said that she didn’t want to see it. Instead, we watched Cinderella and it was a huge hit. It was a great day and night.

Ella having her grilled cheese and french fries

Ella playing with the cars along the wall

Very focused

Look at these curls!

And now for the video…

Today, we drove out to Richmond to visit Elaine, Chole and baby Oskar. Andy (Heather’s brother) was unfortunately at work, so we didn’t get to see him. The last time Ella and Chloe spent time together was in July, so we really had no idea how they would be together. Chloe is 6 months older than Ella. Well…as you will soon see, they hit it off famously. They played really well together, shared with each other and Chloe was extremely compassionate when Ella fell down, hit her mouth and got a fat lip. Baby Oskar is adorable and Elaine was great. It was a really fun morning. When we came home, Ella wasn’t really in the mood for a nap. Sunny and I took Towby and Ella to a park for some fresh air. Bug pulled a muscle or something in her leg, so we didn’t want to drag her out of the house for a long walk. After the walk and a little resting, we walked around our neighborhood (it was a gorgeous night) with Stella, Juliet and Helen. We had dinner outside at a restaurant right by the house. The girls had a blast.

Chloe with her arm around Ella

Right before a big kiss (which I of course missed because the flash wasn’t on automatic)

Oskar had Mommy totally hypnotized

Ella, Elaine and Chloe sharing a very sweet moment

Here’s to a beautiful friendship

Here’s Ella with a head/sweat band on doing her best to look like John McEnroe back in the early 80’s (notice her little fat upper lip)

We were all getting ready to leave for dinner and we let Ella and Juliet play in the hallway while we were getting Stella. Helen took a peek down the hall to make sure that Ella and Juliet weren’t going to make a run for it, and this is what she found – they were walking down the hall holding hands. They are so cute!

Here are our sweet girls hanging out on the steps in the lobby.

Here are mommy and Juliet having fun together while we were waiting for our dinner to arrive

Helen and the girls counting to 10 while mommy went to hide.

This morning, we met Stella, Juliet, Helen and Ron over by the spider. Ella loves the spider and runs to it, but she loves her friends more because she was screaming “Stella…Juliet” all the way there. The kids played around the spider and then on these swivel chairs that are on a pier right by the spider. I left to play tennis, and Sunny and Ella hung around. They went to the ferry building and had lunch with Phyllis. Tonight, Ella, Sunny and I went to Acme for dinner. Ella had some great mac and cheese and was really happy to be there and see everyone. She also has something new that she loves to do at Acme. She loves to hang on the railing like it’s a gymnastics bar. Today was a great day.

Tyrone came to the spider with us today

Hanging out at the spider waiting for Stella and Juliet

Buddies Juliet and Ella with their buddies Elmo and Tyrone

Here’s Ella hanging on her favorite railing

Looks like Ella used her shirt as a napkin tonight

And now for another “campy” video…FRIENDS

This morning, Helen, Ron, Stella and Juliet came over for some challah french toast, chocolate chip pancakes, fake bacon and fake sausage. The girls all sat in their special chairs together, ate breakfast and watched Finding Nemo. After breakfast, we had a spontaneous dance party. Stella is, by far, the greatest dancer. Ella is working on her moves. Juliet is just cute. I am publishing a video of our dance party. The adults in this film are not dancing to their maximum capacity. They did not want to overshadow the children. I was very happy that I was behind the camera and you should be too!

Ella bustin’ a move in her favorite pj’s

Best friends having breakfast

And now for the very special music video. Helen – don’t kill me!