Life With Ella

Ella took her first swimming lesson today.  Sunny and I took Ella to the pool. Ella was a natural and Ella told us that she didn’t want the lesson to end!  What a difference from a few weeks ago when Ella said, “I don’t want to take swimming lessons, they stink and are boring”.  The beginning pictures are some shots from the past few days. Kate came over the other night and we had such a fun time. Ella joined me on the piano and also danced and sang for us. Sleepwalking down the hallway on the way to school. Ella’s dry erase board art. Playing before class. Some serious trampoline jumping.Now for the swimming lesson pictures…

Today was a beautiful day and we spent it at the ballpark.  The Giants beat the Padres and we made it through another 9 innings.  Ella had a great time.  During the game Ella went with Sunny to go visit our friends Tonia and Simon and their little girl Lola and then I took her to go see some classmates that were sitting a few sections over from us.  What a beautiful day to have off.

Running to the elevator.

Beautiful Ella at the ballgame.

Ella visiting with her school buddies.

Tender moments with Mommy.

The Giants are gonna WIN!

Today we met our friends at the Jewish Museum to check out a Chagall exhibit that is leaving soon.  While we were waiting for them to arrive, Ella had a great time playing outside of the museum.  First she made some wishes and then played around the fountain.  Ella quickly went through the exhibit and then played around on these bean bag chairs.  We tried to go swimming in the afternoon but they told us that the pool was closed due to a chemical issue in the pool.  We think they were understaffed because of the holiday weekend.  Tonight Kate came over and we hung out and then Helen, Ron, Stella, Juliet and KJ came over.

Getting ready to go out.

Making a wish…notice the penny mid air.

Cooperating for the picture.

Mommy enjoying the beautiful day.

Walking across the water.

We kept warning Ella to watch where she was going because we knew that her feet were going to go into the water.  We were right.  Of course I didn’t catch it on the camera, but we just knew that it would happen.

Playing around on the bean bags.

Ella got in a bad mood when we were leaving.  She wanted to throw A LOT of coins into the fountain and we only had two.

Right before Ella’s transformation into…

GOGGLE GIRL!

Ella made it through the first week of school (first 3 days) with flying colors.  Ella is a confident preschooler.  She loves going to school and she loves her weekends.  Today, we hung around the house and then we went over to the new yogurt store in our neighborhood called Blush.  The place was packed.  They gave you a raffle ticket when you bought a yogurt.  They were giving away great prizes…an iPhone, iTouch, iShuffle, PSP, 49ers tickets.  We got our tickets and there was going to be a drawing at 3:00.  Ella had her scooter so we decided that we were going to Walgreens pick some stuff up and then go back to the raffle.  As we were “scooting” away, this lady said, “Here, take my ticket, I can’t stay for the drawing”.  I told her to write her name and # on the ticket and if she was chosen, I would give her a call.  Well…she won!  I had to pick a ping pong ball out of a box and I (she) won a PSP.  That’s a portable play station.  I called her and told her and she called back thanking me for calling her and telling me to keep the PSP.  Now I can download movies and stuff for Ella!  Pretty cool.

After that adventure, Ella and I went to the pool and met Ron, Stella and Juliet.  Ella is starting swimming lessons on Wednesday and she has been doing really well in the water.  Today I suggested that she put on a bathing cap and goggles for the pool and she went a little crazy in the car crying that she didn’t want to wear a bathing cap or goggles because goggles made the water come in and hurt her eyes.  Then she said that swimming lessons stink and are boring.  I asked her if she was scared and she said that she was.  When we were in the locker room, I put my bathing cap on and Ella saw me and decided that she was going to put hers on.  As soon as we got into the pool, she saw that Juliet had goggles and they actually traded.  Ella put the goggles on and started having a blast.  Juliet, Ella and I played under water for most of the time.  We were waving to each other, pointing at things and having so much fun.  Ella is doing really well and she said that she wasn’t scared for her lesson on Wednesday.  Tonight Ella went to Stella and Juliet’s house and watched Totoro.  Sunny and I stayed here and watched the Soloist.

Fooling around in the hallway before school on Friday.

Great work!

Entrance of Blush.

Look at all the balloons!

Ella had a great day today during and after school.  When I came to pick Ella up from the after school program, she was playing on the slide and didn’t even see me!  For some reason, that makes me feel good.

Ella in the hallway on the way to school.

Having fun on the trampoline before school.

Walking through the garden looking for butterflies after school.

Well…I have to say that a year has gone by and so much has changed.  Any anxiety we felt last year at this time was gone.  Ella was so excited when she woke up this morning and she was ready to go to school!  As we entered the classroom, Ella said hi to her old classmates and was really excited about being there.  When Alicia rang the bell, Ella kissed each of us and that was it.  At one point, Ella and Brickelle were hanging out and there was a new girl Emily just standing there and they took her hand and led her to the block/dramatic play area.  They were really beautiful and sweet and welcoming and hopefully put Emily at ease.  The only stumbling block we had was that we decided that we were going to pick Ella up 1/2 hour later this year because of our work schedules.  We told Ella all about it and she seemed excited that she would have 30 more minutes to play after school but when 2:15 rolled around and we weren’t there, she got really upset and cried.  She was a little shaken up when we arrived at 2:45 but it will be OK.  She already told us that it would be ok tomorrow.  If its not, that’s ok too, but I think she will be fine.  This is really good for Ella.  Change is good.

Ella last year…first day of school

Ella this year first day of school.

Classroom rule…the kids all have to wash their hands upon entering the classroom.  They also have to sing the entire alphabet song while they are washing.

Ella and Brickelle escorting Emily over to the block/dramatic play area.

Questioning…”how old are you?” “what’s your favorite color?”

Things seem to be going well!

We went to our first ballgame since we’ve been back from NY tonight.  The Giants are in a wild card race with the Rockies and that’s the team that we played.  It was an unusually beautiful balmy night and the Giants won!  Ella made it through the entire game.  We had so much fun.  Ella also wore a Giants jersey and leggings.  She didn’t even suggest that she wore a dress to the game.  She was very serious about her “uniform”.  She even put on one of her Giants hats.  So cute.

Ella in her uniform.

Even down to her orange Adidas.

I took this as Ella was leaping from the ottoman.

Heading to the game.

Yay – we won the game!

The weather is beautiful and we have been having a lot of fun playing outside.  Ella is really excited to go back to school next week.  What a change from last year.  Not too much anxiety or anticipation from any of us.  Now that’s a beautiful thing.

These pictures were taken at a park on Wednesday.  It was in a different part of town which is pretty cold, but Ella had a blast.  She especially loved the “flat swing”.

Ella collected all of the sunglasses that she could find in the house and modeled them for us.  I took this one right as the battery was running out in the camera.  Maybe she’ll do it for us again.

LOVE!!!!!

Enjoying ice cream at the Crossroads Cafe.

Enjoying Ron at the Crossroads Cafe.

Being brave and daring with mommy on a very special kind of slide with no sides.

We have been very active over the past few days.  Ella starts school next week and we have been taking advantage of the end of the the summer.  We have also been spending a lot of time with Stella and Juliet and Ella has been so happy about this.  Ella borrowed Juliet’s scooter the other day and Ella and I took the scooter outside and she rode around the ballpark.  Ella loved it and was really good at it.  We took the scooter for another spin tonight to check out the ballgame.  We have also been checking out some different parks around San Francisco.  Ella has become a great climber.  Check out the pictures.

Ella and I went on this roller coaster at the Oakland Zoo. Ella was screaming the whole time and at one point she screamed, “I want to get off – I want to get off”…but when it was over she told me that she did a great job and that she was really brave.  She was proud.

Here is Ella with our friends Tonia and Simon’s new baby Lola.  Lola is 2 weeks younger than Milo and 1 week younger than KJ.  Ella loved being able to hold her.

Ella playing at the purple playground.

Ella having a lot of fun on the scooter.

We took a little detour and went to the ballpark.  It’s open to the public when there isn’t a game.

Ella loves this Lou Seal statue.

The perfect piece of equipment to play on for the 3 Musketeers.

Ella looking a little like Jackie O wandering around the playground.

Spidergirl!

Sweet Stella climbing the web.

What an amazing climber!  She made it to the top.

Sweetness.

Riding the scooter into the night.

Hanging out in the free section.