Life With Ella

Yesterday, mommy, grandma, papa and I took Ella to Wood Park in Leonia. Ella went to the same park last summer and wasn’t able to do a lot of the climbing and exploring that she did today. Here are some pictures from the park.

Ella making her way through the blue tunnel

Ella and mommy having a slide race

Grandma going down the slide

Papa pushing Ella really high on the swings

Chillin’ in the yellow tunnel

Today, AJ came over in the morning and Ella was so happy to see her (AJ was so happy to see Ella too). Ella hadn’t seen AJ since January and when she saw her, she hugged her so tight for a really long time. It was really sweet. They played outside with Normyn, danced ballet, and read books. Ella took a nap when AJ left and then woke up in a great mood. Ella, grandma and I hung out on the terrace and Ella read a lot of books with grandma. Papa came home from playing golf and Ella pointed to his watch and said, “Mommy is coming home in 20 hours”. Luckily, 20 hours was only 20 minutes. Mommy came home and now our family is complete. As soon as mommy came home, Ella was like, “Mommy – will you read a book with me? Mommy – will you come and play dots in the living room…” it was great – Ella just picked up where they left off. Grandma and papa watched Ella tonight and mommy and I went to NY to have dinner with our friend Diane.

AJ and Ella playing with Orange bear

AJ, Ella and Normyn playing in the secret garden on the side of the house

Oy – Ella is growing up so fast

Everything is beautiful at the ballet

AJ and Normyn ballet dancing

It’s storytime! Check out Ella copping a lean on Normyn

YAY! Mommy is back.

Ella slept from 10:30 pm to 10:30 am. What a beautiful thing. She was in a great mood when she woke up…happy to be here. We miss mommy and can’t wait to see her tomorrow but we know that she has been working hard. We love you! This morning, papa and grandma’s friend Irv came over to see Ella. He was the first person to give Ella a lollipop (at AJ’s first show) and of course he brought lollipops for Ella today! It was great to see him. This afternoon, grandma and I took Ella to Van Saun Park on Ella’s request. We got there, and the ponies were not there yet. They are arriving tomorrow and the pony rides will officially open on Saturday. We’ll all go next week. Ella was really cool about not getting a pony ride and transitioned into being obsessed with the carousel. Ella and grandma took 2 carousel rides. The first was on the zebra and the next on the rhino. They both looked like they were having so much fun. After the carousel, we went into the zoo part of Van Saun Park. The animals were just arriving, so we saw a few, but not all of them. We saw donkeys, goats, cows, sheep, a condor, some monkeys, a porcupine and some ostrich. The train was also closed, so that’s something else to look forward to. Ella was amazing. We came home, had some lunch and then we took a walk up to Fireman’s park. It was really sweet. When we got there, Ella and grandma, took off running. They went on the bouncy things, the slide, and then grandma pushed Ella on the swing. We went home from the park and Ella took a nap. After the nap, we hung out on the terrace and then we went to visit my grandmother. Ella was a little hesitant at first, but then she warmed up to her. I guess she’s not used to someone not really responding to her. At the end she said, “I love you grandma Miller”. It was really touching. We’ll go back to see grandma next week. After that we picked up some dinner and papa came home and we all ate. After dinner, we took papa to go get a haircut. Paul, who cuts papa’s hair, also cuts grandma’s hair and he cut my hair when I was 6! There’s a lot of history there and he couldn’t get over Ella. Ella sat in the salon in her own seat and watched papa get his haircut. We took Ella to Dunkin Donuts and she ate the chocolate off of a chocolate glazed donut and had a little ice cream. We came home, Ella took a bath and is now sleeping. What a great fun filled day.

Here’s the zebra (going by very quickly)

Ella and grandma on the rhino

Grandma pushing Ella in her cool Jeep at Van Saun Park

The girls strolling around at the zoo

Grandma and Ella running off together at the park

Ella greeting papa when he came home from work

Grandma and Ella hanging out at the salon watching papa get a haircut

Here’s another beautiful grandma, Ella, papa photo.

Playing dots before the bath

We left this morning for a 10 day trip back east. We’re here for Passover and for a visit. Ron took us to the airport at 5:30 this morning! Thank you so much Ron! Ella once again was a champion flyer. She sat in her own seat for most of the flight and just chilled out watching DVDs, coloring, eating and just being her amazing self. When we landed, we had to say goodbye to mommy for 2 days because she is doing some work about an hour away from here. WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU MOMMY! See ya Friday. Ella was so happy to see grandma and papa. In the car, she said to grandma, “I ran to you grandma.” When we got back to the house in NJ, papa was home from work and Ella ran to papa also. We had a great dinner and then Ella played around with grandma and papa. They read books, took a bath, tried on high heeled shoes (not papa) and just continued their love affair.

Here is Ella schlepping her Tinkerbell suitcase in the airport at 6:00 am.

Ella and mommy fooling around on the plane

Grandma and Ella playing with grandma’s shoes (tomorrow I will try to get the full effect)

Papa, Ella and grandma having a love fest after Ella’s bath

The Kim/Arena clan was out of town for 4 days. We all really missed them, but Ella especially missed Stella and Juliet. They left on Wednesday and when Ella asked us if she could go and play with Stella and Juliet, we told her that they were on a vacation in Arizona. Later that night, we were out to dinner and we bumped into one of our neighbors. They are moving out next month and they told us that they are moving to Arizona. At that point, Ella chimed in and said, “Oh, Arizona – Stella and Juliet are there”. It’s so great to see Ella comprehending everything! Here are a few pictures from the reunion.

Ella giving Juliet a big kiss

Ella giving Stella a big kiss

Ella getting a big sister hug from Stella

The three musketeers

Today I went on a little shopping trip for Ella – Old Navy and H&M. We are going to Anguilla in May and I wanted to start gathering summery stuff. We really don’t have much of a summer here, so there is really no need for bathing suits, cover ups, sun dresses and other light weight stuff. When I got to H&M, I saw the cutest sun dresses. I bought 2 of them ($10.00 each) and when I brought the bags home, Ella reached into the H&M bag and pulled out the pink sun dress. Immediately she said, “I want to put this on”. I put the dress on her and she began to dance out of pure happiness. She looks so cute as you will see in a moment. Tonight, we went swimming. Ella can touch the bottom and then realized if she held onto the wall, she didn’t have to put as much effort into her tippy toe dance. She did not want me to touch her while she was walking along the wall. All of a sudden, she began to walk around without holding the wall and started venturing out into the pool. She had no fear and got irritated with me when I tried to hold her up. She swallowed some water, got some water up her nose and sneezed right into the water and just laughed. It was terrific.

I love this nose crinkle

Ella is so excited about her dress that she can’t keep her fingers still

Well hello there!

Look at those eye lashes

Ella looks like such a big girl

Here is Ella doing Stella’s famous donkey kick

Ella is cracking us up and amazing us every day. She has a great sense of humor and such a love of life. Tonight, we went to Nama sushi down the block for dinner. Ella told us that she was hungry and that she wanted miso soup, tofu and rice. We ordered her exactly what she asked for, and she ate a little and then just wanted to play around. At one point, a waiter walked by the table and I caught Ella pointing to her rice and saying, “Can you take this away for me?” She said it really softly and he didn’t hear her, but when he walked away, I busted her. I looked at her and said, “Were you being sneaky trying to get him to take your rice?” She just looked at me and smiled. I told mommy what she said and she started laughing. For the rest of the meal we kept saying, “Can you take this away for me?” and we all cracked up.

Here are some pictures I took today.

This is Ella saying “HI!”

Here’s Ella in the garden with her buddy Tasha

Here’s Towby in his best downward dog pose

Here’s Bug looking sweet and geriatric

Ella running laps in the garden

Here is Ella going down a slide at My Gym. She is gaining so much confidence – leaping off of platforms, climbing wooden slats, finding ways to get up on top of tall objects. It’s great to watch. She hasn’t mastered jumping yet.

Here we are at Nama. Ella is ordering a large hot sake

On Monday, Sunny, Becca and Ella went to opening day for the Giants. The Giants lost but the girls had a fun time. Ella caught up with some friends that we met 2 seasons ago and ate 2 hot dogs. Really – she actually ate 2 hot dogs. When I came home from work, Mommy and Ella were waiting for me and Ella said, “Mama – the Giants stink”. Here are some pictures from Monday.

Here is Ella getting ready for the game

Catching up with Dave and Bob

It was a hot day – Ella was very thirsty

Sleeping soundly on Mommy

Tonight, we went to opening night with Ellen and Joyce. It was a cold night, but it felt so great to be at the ball park. The Giants pulled it out in the 11th inning to get a win on opening night. We made it to the 9th inning but left because Ella really wanted to go home. Not only did we get home in time to watch the end of a very exciting game, but we were also able to see the fireworks from our window upstairs. It was beautiful.

Anybody want some cotton candy?

Posing with her buddy Charlie Brown

Snoopy is new this year. What a treat!