Life With Ella

On Thursday, Sunny took Ella to the orthodontist for the first time.  Ella is beautiful in every way but her teeth could use a little help.  The tops have multiple teeth living in one space and the bottoms are very crowded.  These days, they use retainers to try to avoid pulling teeth to make room.  Ella chose a hot pink background with rainbow sparkles.  They should be ready in a few weeks.  Ella has to wear them all day and night and only take them out to brush her teeth.  Let the fun begin!

 What a beautiful sweet love.

Today was Ella’s first soccer game of the season.  We missed last week’s game because we were in Az.  The Black Widows lost but they just need a little more education on what they all need to do to win and they can totally do it!

Fun fun fun after the game.  Ella is sleeping over at Emmi’s tonight.  We love you Ella!

Today, Ella’s class did an activity during social studies.  I am going to use Colette’s description of the exercise in order to explain it…

Hello Parents,

Today in the Octopus classroom, as part of our Social Studies unit, Jasmin Hoo, our fantastic diversity director came in to lead an activity. She began by asking Ms. Kay to leave the room and then gave the Octopuses one simple direction. The direction was for the students to form a circle and then when Ms. Kay was asked to return, they were not to let her into the circle no matter what. They were told that they could do this in any way as long as they were still being safe with their bodies.

What followed was challenging to witness, but provided what we feel was a powerful learning opportunity. As Ms. Kay walked around and attempted to join the circle by asking students, many of our Octopuses began to laugh. Several students began to taunt her by chanting “Excluded, excluded” and pointing at her. Other students moved their bodies aside and told Ms. Kay that she could come over, but quickly moved their bodies back to block her when she would come over. Most of our students laughed and joined in on a variety of taunts. A few of our students did not laugh, but remained silent. When Ms. Kay asked those students if she could join their circle, they avoided eye contact with her but whispered “No” or shook their heads. As the activity progressed and Ms. Kay began to express frustration, sadness and finally resignation, those students and a few others began to look down at the floor and to show increasing discomfort. Then entire activity lasted for about five minutes before Jasmin and I stopped the activity and asked the group to reconvene.

Ella was one of the kids who was very upset – she remained silent – did not make eye contact.  She did tell Kay “no” when she asked to get into the circle but  Ella told me, “I thought we were playing a game and it turned out to be mean and I didn’t like it”.

The octopus class is working on bullying, being an advocate, being a good friend, how to take care of yourself etc.  This activity really shook Ella.

Later on during the day at free time, she sat down and wrote this card for Kay.

What a love!

We are continuing to have such a wonderful time with grandma and papa.  This past week has been terrific.  We’re doing crazy touristy things and that means large crowds and patience.  All of the adults are making sure that we don’t forget to breathe.  Ella is having a blast.  On Sunday, we went to Pier 39 to the Aquarium by the Bay.  We always have fun there and this time we watched a 3-D movie on sharks which was beautiful and very informative.  Today, mommy had to go to work, but Ella, grandma, papa and I were very brave and went to the Academy along with the 16,000 other families who were in SF for the holidays.  After the Academy we took a beautiful walk around Stowe Lake and tonight played some great games.

 Beautiful shot of Ella and papa.

 Ella picked out an oyster and got a silver pearl.

This is true love – grandma actually put her hands in the water!  What do you think of the photo bomber behind them?

 Classic shot in front of the giant wall of fish.

 Awesome trio of love.

 I photo bombed Ella!

Playing an amazing game – I forgot the name but it teaches all about the United States.