Life With Ella

Today was the Pride parade. The three of us met up with Phyllis, Richard and Alice at the parade. We sat in the grandstand and got to see the whole parade go by. It was really festive and historic. There were many couples in the parade who were just married in the past few weeks and the overall feel of the parade was incredibly celebratory. We stayed for almost 4 hours and Ella was amazing. She was clapping and yelling out – she loved the balloons the most. Tonight, Helen, Ron, Stella and Juliet came home from Barbados. Ella saw them and squealed. I think Ron got some sweet pictures of the reunion.

Ella and mommy at the parade.

Here we are looking at something – maybe the balloons.

Here is Ella hanging out with Alice and Phyllis. Alice is the greatest. At one point during the parade she turned to me and said, “If I hadn’t seen this I wouldn’t have believed it!”

Today was a sweet day – pretty low key. Ella wanted to wear her leotard and tights in the house and that was fine. When it was time to go to the park, we let her stay in her outfit and she was so happy. We met up with a friend of Becca’s and a little girl that she was babysitting and Ella hung out with her for a little while. Tonight, we took a family walk over to Borders. Ella agreed to wear a new sweatshirt that I bought her for the baseball games. She also wore pants. This was a big deal. We are learning how to negotiate the clothing issue. The tantrums are getting shorter and shorter.

Our little ballerina about to touch the sand.

Mommy and Ella riding the animal things in the park.

What a little beauty.

Ella giving her new friend Hannah a hug.

Ella’s evening outfit (she even picked the matching shoes all by herself).

One of my birthday presents from Sunny was a morning on the Giants field at balldude camp. It’s an event that’s sponsored by the Giants Community Fund and basically it’s a morning where you get batting practice, field grounders and field outfield balls. Many of the people there are trying out to win a spot to be a balldude during a game, but some of us were just out having a fun time. Mommy, Ella and Becca were there cheering me on and taking pictures. I had so much fun. It was a really great morning. I fielded the grounders really well, hit every ball (some were foul balls but I made contact with every one) and did pretty well in the outfield – I missed about 4 fly balls. Ella actually agreed to wear jeans which was a great thing. Tonight, mommy and I took Ella swimming and we had a lot of fun. Tonight Ella agreed to wear sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt. One day at a time…

Getting a nose kiss from Ella before we went over to the ballpark.

There’s my name up in lights!

I started to have fun the second I walked out on the field!

Here I am with Rich Murray – he was a Giant back in the day and he was running the ground ball drills.

OK – I’m ready, let’s go!

Fielding a grounder.

Becca and Ella relaxing.

Fooling around in the batting cage.

I think this was the shot that made it to the outfield grass.

I got it, I got it!

Ella was absolutely incredible!

Ella was so cute – she kept calling the baseball mitt a helmet.

Ella and mommy fooling around in the dugout.

Here is a picture of Ella and Rich Murray from last year when we took Ellen to balldude camp and here are Ella and Rich this year.

Ella hanging out with Towby this afternoon…she was supposed to take a nap but decided to yell “I’m awake, I’m awake” so I took her out of the crib and she hung out with me and the dogs.

Ella in her outfit after swimming. It didn’t seem to bother her at all.

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.