Life With Ella

Ella had a great day today – second day in a row without having an accident.  I checked in with Alicia about the reason why Ella ripped the book (I saw one of the books – she did a tremendous job!) and she said she thought Ella was just bored.  I told her that Ella told me that she ripped it because she couldn’t go outside to the water table and Alicia started to laugh.  I had a feeling that Ella made it up but I just needed to check it out.  As a morning activity, Ella’s class visited the farm.  Ella loved seeing the sheep and chickens and she is learning how to be with them.  She couldn’t wait to bring us over to them after school.  Grandma and papa come tomorrow night and to quote Ella, “I am so excited – I can’t wait – I am very excited”.  Mommy and I are taking 2 days and going to Las Vegas while grandma and papa party with Ella.  “I can’t wait!”

Running down the hall this morning.

Ella is a table washer again.

Visiting the sheep and chickens after school.

Ella and Ms. Ngoc – another one of Ella’s amazing teachers.

We arrived at school a little bit later than usual and by the time we got into the classroom, the good morning song was just starting to play.  Ella heard the song, looked at us, said, “School is starting, you have to go now” and sat down in the circle.  That was it!  It’s amazing how things change every day.  Ella had a great day at school – she had an accident while she was playing at the water table outside.  I told her that if she knows that she will be playing at the water table that she should go to the bathroom first.  She agreed.  When we came home, Ella put on her leotard and danced around for a while.  We had dinner at Eliza’s with Becca and Amy.  It was a great dinner.  Grandma and papa come in 3 days – we are so excited!

Morning hallway picture.

Circle time

Our beautiful little ballerina.

Ella was just having a little bit of fun with Becca!

So happy.

The bullfighter.

Having fun with Amy after dinner.

Whenever Ella wants to try something but she’s not quite sure if she wants to do it now she says, “I can do that when I’m older”.  Today, we were going to the Channel park to take Towby for a walk (Bug is too old to go that far and be happy) and Sunny and Ella were both holding Towby’s leash.  Ella looked at Sunny and said, “When I get older, you don’t have to hold the leash with me mommy.”  Mommy asked Ella if she wanted to walk Towby alone (we were right there) and she said yes.  It was a very cute 10 feet.  We went to the Channel, Ella climbed up and down “tall mountain”, hung out at Phils Coffee and had a fun afternoon.  Tonight, Ella watched Peter Pan.  She really liked it.  We had a nice relaxing weekend.

Our big girl taking Towby for a walk.

Ella was just standing there saying, “Oh look at the ocean, it’s so beautiful”.

At the top of “Tall Mountain”

“I think I can…I think I can…”

Walking down Tall Mountain.  Ela used to do this on her tush.

Balancing and getting in touch with her inner airplane.

Ella nameed this masterpiece “Baseball Chihuly Sculpture”.

Putting on the finishing touches.

Not much to report today.  It was a beautiful day.  We spent a good part of the afternoon outside – the weather is heating up again.  Tonight we had dinner at Acme with Becca and Debby.  It was a great day and night.

Some pictures of Ella dancing around in the park today.  There was live band that she was dancing to.

What a crazy head of hair.

Well hi there!

Making a funny face during dinner.

Heaven for mommy – Ella sleeping in her arms and the Giant’s game on TV.

Yesterday I wrote funny stories, today it’s a story about Ella acting out.  This afternoon when we went to pick Ella up, Alicia told us that she needed to talk to us.  We were standing there with Ella and as Alicia started talking, Ella put her hands over her ears.  Alicia told us that she asked Ella if she wanted to tell us or if she wanted Alicia to tell us and she told Alicia that she wanted Alicia to tell us.  After Ella put her hands over her ears, Alicia picked her up and then we were all at the same eye level.  Basically, Ella ripped some pages out of 2 books.  Alicia and Ella spent a lot of time taping the pages back in the book and Ella couldn’t do the morning activities until she was finished taping.  Ella said, “I will not do that again.  It’s not nice to rip books.  It can make people sad”.  Later on, we asked her why she ripped the books and she said, “because they wouldn’t let me go outside and play with the water table”.  Oy. We are going to ask Alicia if that was true- not that it would make a difference.  We just want to see if Ella was making it up.   We went to get ice cream after school.  The book incident was over and done with.  Ella hung out with this kid Ana Pria who is in preschool but a different class.  They were funny together.  We had dinner at Nama and Ella ate everything.  Can’t wait to try to sleep in tomorrow.

Looking a little sleepy this morning.

I wonder what she’s thinking about.

Walking to the ice cream store with a little bit of attitude.

High fiving Ana Pria

Delicious!

Hanging out on the bench enjoying their ice cream.

This morning, I had a chance to talk to Alicia for a while.  I asked her if they learned the song, “This Land Is Your Land” in class and she said that they did sing it earlier in the week.  The reason I asked is because Ella started to sing the song out of nowhere the other day and it wasn’t one that we have been singing around the house.  Alicia said that Ella picks up on the songs really quickly.  She told me a story that really cracked me up.  She said that they sing a song right before nap time.  One day, the kids were all trying to nap.  Alicia walked into the room and heard someone singing the nap song at the top of their lungs.  She asked Ngoc, another teacher in the classroom, which kid was singing and she said, “That’s your Ella”.  Alicia said that she had to explain to Ella that the other kids were trying to sleep and that she couldn’t sing out loud during nap time.  Now somebody has to sit near Ella during nap time.

Another funny thing Alicia told me was about the kid’s trip to the kitchen yesterday.  I told her that I was trying to get information out of Ella about what they did in the kitchen and she wouldn’t tell me anything.  Alicia told me that they learned about the kitchen and that they had to wash their hands any time they went into the kitchen.  Then Ms. Misty told the kids that if they sneezed or coughed that they should wash their hands again.  Ella proceeded to fake cough and sneeze and washed her hands 5 times in 1/2 hour.

The last funny story for now…Ella was on the toilet going to the bathroom and she got off the toilet, forgot to flush, forgot to pull her pants up and went over to the sink.  She turned on the sink, pants around her ankles, butt sticking out and started playing with the water.  Alicia said that she took a picture of it.  I hope we get it!

After school we came back here and relaxed for a while.  The 3 of us then went to the new Academy of Arts and Sciences in Golden Gate Park.  We went to a preview tonight.  The place is amazing.  Ella was running and running and pointing to things and running to the next thing…she was moving so fast that it was hard to get good pictures but I did manage to get a few.  What a great place.  I can’t wait to spend a lot of time there.

The hallway shot of the morning.

Ella and Ms. Gladys.   Ms. Gladys is the Spanish speaking teacher in the classroom.  Ella really loves all 3 classroom teachers.

Getting ready for “circle group time”

Ella and Towby after school blowing bubbles in the garden.

Bug chillin’ in the sun.

Waiting for the elevator.

Look at all the fish!

This is how Ella was all night…”Look at this, look at that, look over here…”

Ella had a good morning this morning.  She also had a great day at school and didn’t have any accidents.  Ella was in a really good mood when we picked her up.  Ella had a great afternoon.  We kept Ella in her Music Together class and her teacher who took about 6 months off came back.  Ella gave her a big hug.  Tonight mommy was at a fundraiser so Ella and I went over to Amici’s and had a really fun dinner. Nothing like a morning smile. I asked Ella all about the kitchen and she wouldn’t really give up any information. Ella’s out to dinner outfit.  Ella had a leotard on under her sweat pants.  We made a deal that she had to wear her sweatshirt outside but she could take it off inside.  I also let her go outside in her ballet slippers which made her so happy. Very busy drawing. Check out the ringlets. As you can tell from her leotard…Ella loved her dinner!

This morning while we were eating breakfast, Ella said that she wasn’t going to go to school.  We told her that she really needed to go to school and she said, “Okay – I will go to school”.  Every morning, we get to the gate where we need to sign in and Ella says in a kind of frantic voice, “You will stay for a few minutes.  I will go to school.  Then after nap time and circle time you will come back”.  Today was no different.  We got into the classroom and Ella began to do some beading.  Then she saw her two little buddies, Tegan and Brickelle sit down on the carpet.  Ella looked at us and said, “School is going to start, you have to leave”.  She kissed us, hugged us and sat down with her friends.  After school, Brickelle’s mom told me that after we left, the 3 of them were sitting there talking with each other and Tegan said, “I love school”.  Brickelle said, “I love school too”.  Ella said, “I like school”.  Brickelle’s mom asked Ella what was wrong and Ella said, “I don’t like school in the morning because my mommy and mama have to leave”.  Pretty sweet.  On the way home, I reminded Ella that it was her special Tuesday with Stella  I also got a message from Helen saying that Juliet was home too.  Ella was chanting, “Stella and Juliet, Stella and Juliet” during the car ride home.   Tonight when mommy came home, she got Ella from Stella and Juliets’, gave Ella a bath and then let her put on the Tinky Winky outfit that Stella lent to her.  Ella was in heaven. Early morning elevator ride. Every morning,mommy carries Ella to the gate and then we all walk in together.Beading… New friendsA very happy Tinky Winky.

This morning, Ella was pretty good about going to school.  We have a ritual now where she gets to have a Dum Dum (lollipop) on the way to school.  I know it’s not a great thing but it’s comforting for Ella and it won’t last forever.  Ella tried to get Sunny to carry her into the school this morning but she quickly gave up the fight when she realized that it wasn’t going to happen.  During the day today, we got an e-mail from Alicia:

Hi Sunny & Lauren,

Here is a picture of Ella busy filling up different size containers in
the sensory table. Ella got so wet you would have thought she was
actually in the water table:)!

They had to change Ella’s clothes twice because she was so wet.  When I picked up Ella at the end of the day, she was about the 7th kid on line.  She saw me and said, “mama, mama come here – you came back”.  I went to give her a hug and she was like, “push me on the swings, push me on the swings” (Ella is really into repetition).  Alicia came up to me just as we were about to go to the swings and said, “You know Ella had Ava (a 5 year old in the class) carrying out her (Ella’s) lunchbox and wet clothes.  I asked Ava why she was carrying Ella’s stuff and she said that Ella told her it was too heavy for her to carry”.   Alicia then told me that she made Ava give Ella back her stuff and encouraged Ella to carry her own things.  I guess Ella is learning how to get her needs met wherever she goes.

Ella and her 7:45 am lollipop.

The daily life of a leaping lizard.

Playing before circle time.

After school.  Notice the outfit change.

When we came home today, Ella painted up a storm.

Running around after the bath and before dinner.  Ella was so happy running and running around the island.

Best friends.

During one of Ella’s laps around the island, she came across her pink Giant’s hat, looked at it, said, “how do you put this on” and shoved it on her head.  What a look!

Ella woke up at 7:15 this morning in a great mood…too bad we were sleeping.  I actually took her into bed with me to watch Diego while mommy got ready to go to the gym.  We’re going to have to teach Ella something about sleeping in for at least one hour longer on the weekends.  When we finally made it downstairs, Ella really wanted to draw on her dry erase board.  I left her over there for a while and then Ella called me over.  She said, “I drew a peacock, a shark and a whale.  What do you think of them mama?”  I told her that she did a great job – especially on the whale.  Her drawings are sort of starting to look like what she plans on!

We ate breakfast and played around and then Debby and Toby came over for a visit.  I left a few minutes after they came over to go get a massage, but Ella, mommy, Debby and Toby took advantage of King Street being closed by our house and the ballpark and joined in with a little street fair thing they were having.  They had lunch at Maria’s and played around on the different things that were out there.  I came home and we went to the little park behind the ballpark.  Ella took her shoes off and played in the sand again.  I wonder what would happen if we took her on another trip to a beautiful beach.  It was a pretty low key weekend.  Seems like Ella needed it – I think we did too.  We’re all still adjusting to our new schedule.

Our little artist at work.

Ella and mommy having a tea party with the Backyardigans.

Peekaboo with Debby.

Driving down the road with a little help from Toby and Debby.

Driving the boat in the park.

Ella was very busy with her snow-cone.