Life With Ella

I know I’ve written about this recently, but it’s becoming a bit of an issue. Ella pretty much refuses to wear anything but tank tops, sun dresses, leotards. tights, tutus, and skirt/shorts. I realize that this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but we live in San Francisco and it’s not very warm in the summer. We really don’t care what she wears, but we don’t want her to be cold. It also turns into this hysterical battle and it’s just not fun. We have to meet somewhere in the middle. I got her to meet me in the middle today with a short pair of pants and a sun dress/tank top. We had a lot of fun today. Here are some pictures – mostly from My Gym. She is an amazing kid with such a strong will and need for independence. For the most part, we embrace it, but when it’s 50º out, she needs a sweatshirt!

This morning before going to My Gym

Check out Ella’s new shoes – she calls them her ice skating shoes.

Shooting hoops…

Hanging with Luis…

Climbing…

All that hard work made Ella want to chill a little bit on this funny swing.

Having lunch at Maria’s – sitting in a big girl chair.

Here is one picture of Ella tonight right before she went to bed, and one picture of Ella at the park exactly one year ago. We can’t believe how fast time has gone by and we can’t believe how much Ella has changed.

Today we went to a really sweet birthday party. Ella’s friend Ava had her second birthday party at a place called Tutu School. Ella arrived wearing her leotard, tights and tutu. This party was right up her alley. She was the first to arrive so she had first choice on a brand new tutu. Ella picked a purple one which she is in love with. Another part of the party was decorating a crown which Ella also fell in love with and didn’t take off for the entire party. She was pretty shy coming into the place and after about 10 minutes, she let her guard down and just seemed so comfortable. She sat between the teachers during the circle activities and didn’t really look for us. The party was so cute and the kids were so cute. I have lots of movie footage and will make a movie in the next few days. For now, enjoy some sweet pictures of Ella.

Ella wearing her new tutu and crown.

Ella participating in the activities.

Holding hands with both teachers.

I guess we both open our mouths when we color.

Ella’s favorite…cupcake frosting!

Mommy and Ella hanging out.

Ella dancing in the mirror with her new wand.

Ella and the birthday girl Ava.

Today was another gorgeous day and we spent the whole day outside. Emily is staying at Helen and Ron’s this weekend so we met up with Emily and also met Becca and Tucker. We walked to the ferry building, had lunch, and had a little rendezvous with Phyllis, Alice and some other friends. We ended the long walk in the park where Ella climbed the red rope thing all by herself and jumped off different heights of the wall.

Here’s part of the gang walking down the street. Ella walked almost all the way to the Ferry building.

The sunglass sisters walking along the water.

Climbing up the red rope thing.

Our little jumper. Ella did have a few cuts and bruises on her knees after her jumping session, but that’s part of being a kid!

On the merry go round with Becca and Tucker.

“Look at me, I’m on top of the world!”

Tonight we went over to Phyllis’ house to have dinner with Phyllis, Hannah, Naomi and Phyllis’ mom Alice. Alice is visiting from LA. Alice is incredible… she’s almost 90 and more with it than people I know who are my age! We had a great dinner. During dinner, Phyllis offered Ella some chicken – we were going to take a piece and cut it up for her. Instead, Ella grabbed the chicken leg and munched away. This was the first time she has had a chicken leg in her hand and of course I had the camera. After dinner, Ella helped Phyllis water her flowers. We came home and there was “Opera in the Park”. There was a free broadcast of the opera on the Jumbotron. We didn’t go in because Ella fell asleep, but we stood outside and listened to the music. It was about 85º tonight, unheard of for SF, and we took advantage of it by staying out until 9:45 talking to friends and neighbors that we bumped into.

Getting ready to go out to dinner.

Ella and her chicken leg.

What a beautiful ice cream mustache!

Watering the flowers with Auntie Pie.

Today was a gorgeous day – Ella got her wish and wore a “sun dress” (really a tank top) and a sporty skirt/shorts thing. My Gym was great as usual. I took Ella swimming in the afternoon and we had a blast. This is her second time swimming this week. This evening, we had a ladies night out. Helen, Sunny and I took the girls to see this show Elmo Grows Up at the Oracle Arena. The girls were fantastic and I think they all had a great time. Ella’s heart started beating so quickly when the show started and didn’t really slow down. She was mesmerized.

Ella walking down the street to My Gym

Having fun at My Gym

Sweet Ella in the Zen Garden.

Ella has pretty much perfected her smile for pictures. She even says, “Smile!”

Ella and Juliet took each other’s hands and walked together into the Elmo thing.

This was just a really cute sequence of the girls all grown up. They each had their own ticket, gave the tickets to the woman, and then went through the turnstile by themselves.

Look, it’s ballerina Zoe!

Here are Helen and the girls. Stella almost finished that whole thing of popcorn.

Ella did not take her eyes off the stage.

Another sweet picture Helen and the girls.

The 3 of us.

This morning, Ella woke up and insisted on wearing another one of her leotards with a skirt connected to it.  We went next door and I soon realized that Ella wasn’t the only kook on the block. Stella and Juliet were both dressed up in princess dresses. They all had a lot of fun. The 2 other kids probably think that our kids are crazy.Ella found the tiara and shoes over at Stella and Juliet’s.Check out princess Juliet!A super tender moment with princess Stella.After lunch, Ella took a load off on one of Helen and Ron’s cool chairs.

Tonight, after mommy’s Giants Community Fund Board meeting, we went to the ballgame and watched it in a luxury suite. Ella had a great time – we were on the same floor as Charlie Brown and Snoopy so we went over and took some pictures. Ella also enjoyed a hot dog! Ella spent the day in a leotard with an attached skirt and tights. She has completely rebelled and does not want to wear pants or long sleeved shirts. As Nicky B said tonight on the phone – Ella has Caribbean fever! It has been a struggle since we came back from Anguilla. San Francisco hit a record low today. It was 56º for most of the day. When we were getting Ella ready for the game tonight, we were taking off her leotard and tights and she was letting us know that she was completely against the whole idea. I had to finally bribe her and let her wear her “ruby red slippers” to the game. The shoes are a little big on her and we don’t usually let her wear them outside, but tonight was a special night. As we were walking around the ballpark at least every 4th person made some kind of comment about how cool or cute Ella’s shoes were. Ella walked with her head held high.

Ella and Snoopy.

Here is Ella with our friend Jennifer who works for the Giant’s Community Fund.

Ella taking a bite into her hot dog.

Such a big girl!

Today we met Karen and Kate over in San Raphael for a street art festival. It was called “Youth In Arts Italian Street Painting Festival”. Basically it was this street festival where chalk artists were drawing on the street. The work was beautiful and fun. They had a section where kids can do their own square and we did one with Ella. We all had a great day. Here are some pictures.

This is a picture that I took of Ella this morning. She was so happy that she had a tank top on. She’s really not into long sleeves, pants or sweatshirts these days. Oy vey.

Here we are arriving at the street fair. The doggie is Kate’s dog Jessie.

Karen giving Ella a high five as Ella identifies animals in the chalk drawing.

Ella liked watching this one while it was being created.

Here’s another one. It’s hard to believe that this was created by chalk only.

Look at all the balloons!

I think mommy took this one for me. Otters are my power animal.

Here we are busy drawing our square.

Ella putting in her professional/personal touches.

Here we are completely loving life.

A close up of our square.

This is our final square. We had a lot of fun.