Life With Ella

Ella had a sweet morning with Grandma and Papa before they left for the airport. It was a great visit. This morning, grandma was talking to Ella and telling her that they were going back to New Jersey and Ella looked at grandma and papa, wagged her little finger and said, “You are not going back to New Jersey”. This was the first time that she has ever expressed anything like this before. She’s comprehending EVERYTHING! It’s beautiful to see. After my parents left, Sunny took Ella to a park in Bernal Heights where they met Phyllis, Michael and Debbie. They had a great time and Ella played her heart out. After the park, we hung around at home and ended up over at Helen and Ron’s, had a great dinner – baked ziti – thank you Helen, and then we took the girls to the small baseball field and played some T-ball. Well…Juliet was really the star – Ella and Stella ran around the field while Juliet took batting practice. Ella loved holding the bat, she just didn’t want to swing it.

Ella playing with her “guys” at breakfast this morning

Grandma and Ella having a sweet kiss

Look at this love

Grandma, Papa and Ella right before they left for the airport. We love you. We’ll see you in the middle of April!

Ella having a blast on the tire under the love and supervision of Michael, Debbie and Phyllis

Here’s our little athlete in training. Ella is really into hanging from the bars these days.

Beautiful buddies getting ready to play ball.

Stella and Ron on the way to the ballpark

Ron, Ella and Mommy on their way to play some ball. Ella is choosing her bat.

Hmmm…what am I supposed to do with this bat?

Juliet did a great job batting. She didn’t want to leave home plate!

Ella rushing the plate from the pitcher’s mound.

Today started with a walk to the Ferry Building again.

Papa pushing and grandma holding hands

We had lunch at Taylors. Here are grandma and Ella going over the menu.

Ella showing papa what she is going to order.

We walked down to Pier 39 and Ella got to see the sea lions

Ella convinced us that we should all go to the aquarium. Here are Grandma, Ella and Mommy heading towards the aquarium.

Here is papa showing Ella what her courageous Mommy and Grandma are doing…

Here is Mommy touching a baby tiger shark

…and Grandma also touching a baby tiger shark

Ella fell asleep on the way home from the aquarium and when she woke up at home, she wanted to play with her “guys”.

Everyone was playing with the guys.

Look at all the “guys” that papa has on!

We had dinner at Nama and when we came home, Ella and Mommy were having a blast! Check out Ella’s new tattoo from the aquarium.

Ella decided that she wanted to put on her ruby slippers and watch the “Wizard of Oz” and that’s what we did!

We had a fun filled day today. We started out at Children’s Day School – the school that Ella will be attending in the fall. I wanted to bring grandma and papa there so they could see this amazing place where Ella was going to go to school. Ella did a great job there. She immediately wanted to go to the playground, but there were some kids playing there and I wanted to make sure that it was OK for her to play there. Ella waited patiently while we took a little tour around the garden, farm and pre-school classrooms. Ella walked around, played with some toys, went into a few classrooms and seemed like she was beginning to feel comfortable. We finally hit the playground and Ella climbed up the steps and went on the slide. She went down one of the slides and flew off the slide and landed on her tush. She got up and yelled, “Wipe out!” Then she went back to the top of the slide but this time chose one that went a little slower. She made an announcement from the top of the slide, “Hey guys, I’m not gonna wipe out this time”, and she didn’t. After the slide she went on a big girl swing – her first time going on one alone. After the swing, she told me that she wanted to hang (there was a hanging bar there). It was pretty high, so I held her there for a few seconds and then asked her if I could let go. She shook her head yes and proceeded to hang on all by herself while she was giggling and making some funny noises. The kids at the school were really cute. They asked me if Ella was going to the school. I told one little boy that Ella was going to go to this school next year. He had this eager look on his face and said, “Is she going to be a tadpole?” I told him that I didn’t know which class she was going to be in. He said, “Maybe she will be a tadpole – do you think she will be a tadpole?” I asked him if he was a tadpole and he said “YES”. It was cute.

After Children’s Day School, we took a walk to the Ferry Building, saw the spider statue and had a great lunch. After lunch, we came back and relaxed while Ella took a nap. We had a great little visit from Stella and Juliet who gave Ella a pair of yellow jelly sandals. They both had the same pair. Helen – you are incredible – thank you so much for including Ella in everything! Ella loved the shoes so much that she took off her ballet outfit to put the shoes on. She didn’t take them off until 10:00. We had dinner at Acme and had a great night. Tonight Ella tasted grandma’s fish and exclaimed, “I love shrimp”. We didn’t have the heart to correct her. Now everyone is sleeping except me so I think I’ll sign off.

Walking to Children’s Day School

The middle slide is the one that went a little slower.

Here’s Ella on the big girl swing

Ella hanging from the tall bar

Papa, Ella and Grandma in front of the spider

Grandma teaching Ella some new dance moves

Ballerina Ella, Papa and Muno

Ella with her cool new shoes

Today was a terrific day. Ella and I started our day by going to My Gym. Ella had a blast there. After we left, I asked Ella what she wanted to do for lunch. She took at me and said, ” I want to go to Nordstrom and get mac and cheese and french fries.” We dropped off the car, let the dogs out, and walked downtown. Ella was a little sleepy but she was great company. We actually have conversations. (She’s still wavering between Hillary and Obama but really liked Obama’s speech on race. She felt that it was necessary.) No seriously, she’s just great in every way. After lunch, we saw the fish tank in the shoe department, went to the Lucky Kid store, and then rolled home. Ella fell asleep on the way home, and had a good nap. At around 6:00 we headed over to next door and Helen cooked a beautiful meal. After dinner we all went across the street to Borders and sat on the floor in the kid’s section and read tons of books. Now it’s very late and grandma and papa have just arrived. Ella will be so excited when she wakes up in the morning.

Ella being chased by her buddy Beckett during the maze part of My Gym

And he got her for a BIG HUGGIE (or maybe even a choke hold)

Our 3 girls hanging out, looking out the window and having popsicles

Look at these beauties. There was a lot of love spread around tonight. At one point before dinner, Juliet hugged Ella around her neck from behind and then Stella came behind Juliet and gave her a hug. Of course there was no camera in sight, but it was worth it when Helen and I jumped in and got our hugs in too!

Ella and Juliet trying to chase Stella down the hall to get a big hug. Stella wasn’t interested.

Ella had a great day. We went to the carousel, took walks, played, read books and all that other fun stuff. When we came home, Ella was in a great mood and full of energy. She told us that she wanted to paint in the rock garden. We took her outside with some water and paint brushes and away she went. She was painting and then running, and painting and running. She ran from wall to wall, all around the garden. She was laughing and yelling and had a blast. Here are the pictures.Here is Ella the wall painterLook at this beautiful little painterAnd here is the masterpiece – A dragon!And she’s off…Go Ella go!She’s on a missionAfter the bath – polar bear pj’s – ready for bed!

Today was a gorgeous day. Ella had a playdate with Rebecca, her friend who she went to Fairyland with a few weeks ago. We spent the morning and early afternoon at the ballpark, and the little park behind the ballpark. The girls get along really well and they had a lot of fun together. During the middle of the day, I dropped my camera and broke it. Good thing I have another camera and that I bought the extended warranty for the one I dropped. After Ella’s nap, we played around the house and then we took a walk over to Becca’s house to hand out with Becca and Tucker. It was a great day and night. Here are a few pictures from today.

Here’s Ella having of fun

Ella and Rebecca walking towards the trolley at the ballpark

Ella and Rebecca sitting on the trolley – looks like the sun was in their eyes

Here are the 3 of us with the sun in our eyes

The field of dreams

Ella is growing up every second! She amazes us every day. Today she was busy, busy, busy. After a great night’s sleep, Ella started off the day reading books, doing art projects, doing ballet and playing with so many toys. We had a visit from Phyllis in the afternoon and Ella had so much fun with her. We took out the tunnel and Ella, as she was going into the tunnel said, “Bye bye – I’m going to LA” and then she would come out of the tunnel and say, “I’m back”. Then she would go back again and say, “I’m going to New Jersey…I’m back…I’m going to New York…I’m back…I’m going to San Francisco…I’m back…I’m going to the aquarium…I’m back…” If you asked her what she saw at any of her destinations, she would tell you a whole story about it. After Phyllis left, Ella played with rubber stamps and paint and then it was bath time. After the bath, Kate came over for dinner and Ella had a great visit with Kate. She played with this shape thing and then decided to take all the pieces and put them in Kate’s hand. She kept saying, “Here you go…thank you…here you go…thank you…” Nothing like a little repetition. Ella is sleeping soundly now. She’s just an incredible little person.

Look at this face

Ella rarely lets us keep her hair back, but she looks so sweet like this

Hello – is anyone there?

Check out Ella in her PJ’s and with her cool car that she can finally ride by herself

After Ella’s exciting morning, she decided that she wasn’t going to take a nap. She stayed in her crib for about an hour and just kept saying, “I’m awake – I’m awake – I’m not tired!” She also played with all of her stuffed animal friends. I asked her what she was talking to them about and she said, “Happy thoughts”. There’s a song from Yo Gabba Gabba that talks about thinking happy thoughts. I’m happy she’s learning beautiful things from that show. When mommy came home from work, we went to the gym to go swimming and have dinner at the pub. We haven’t been swimming in a long time because Ella has had a perpetual cold this winter, but she’s healthy now. We had a great surprise tonight. Ella can stand on her tip toes in the pool all by herself! She can only do it on her tip toes, so she’s not comfortable walking around, but I think it was exciting for her to be independent in the pool (at least for 10 seconds). I know it was exciting for us.

Check out the look of determination – Ella is out to find eggs

I found 2 more!

Ella looking up at the clouds

Ron and Stella looking up at the clouds

Now this is pretty amazing – getting 10 kids to line up for a picture

Even better – now we have 12 kids!

Stella and Juliet running down Tall Mountain

Here’s the gang.

Complete happiness

Tickle face

Ella standing in the pool all by herself!