Life With Ella

Grandma came to town on Wednesday and Papa came in tonight.  Ella is so happy – so are we.  Ella and grandma spent the day together while we were at work.  Sounds like the day was fantastic.  This afternoon, Ella had her last swimming lesson with Megan.  I got into the pool to film parts of the lesson.  The camera is pretty cool.  Ella did a great job.  She still has a rash, but they didn’t kick us out of the pool.  Tonight, mommy, grandma Ella and I had dinner at Nama.   Ella asked for tobiko and salmon roe.  All that stuff is so gross to me, but Ella loved it.  She tried to get me to taste it and I actually faked it.  I took it and hid it under my napkin.

  Dinner at Nama.  Check out those fish eggs.

This morning, very early, Sunny and I got an e-mail from Alicia – Ella’s preschool teacher.  The e-mail said…”Read the blog. That rash sounds like Fifth’s disease. It’s not a disease it’s just what it’s called. It’s one of the childhood viruses. Did she have cold like symptoms a week or two ago? Usually the rash comes out after the fact…that’s when they start getting better. So, it is contagious and in adults it causes serious fatigue and achiness all over your body especially your joints! Fun!”Well Alicia, not only are you an incredible teacher and person, you are a skilled diagnostician.  We called the doctor, described what was going on, and they said it is “slap cheek virus” also known as “Fifth’s disease”.  They said that she could go about her regular day since the rash is out, but we let her stay home from school today.  I  Ella watched “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” and then played, did some artwork and made a card for Ella’s swimming instructor.  Thursday will be their last lesson.  Here are some pictures from the first part of the day.It looks a lot worse than it feels.  It hasn’t been bothering Ella at all.Here is the card that Ella made for Megan, her swimming teacher. When I came home from work, Ella looked so much better than when I left her.  She was in a great mood.  We listened to the soundtrack of the original Broadway Annie and built a Lego village.  Sunny had to go to an event tonight and since she’s the cook in the family, Ella and I went across the street to Amici’s (Ella’s second time this week).  Ella had pizza instead of pasta so at least she mixed it up a little.  We had a great dinner and Ella was doing some great writing on the iTouch.  Check out the video at the end.Huge smile on Ella’s face while she was listening to Annie.Playing tag on the way to Amici’s.

Ella had a great day today.  She woke up ready to go to school and have some fun.  She developed some kind of rash over the weekend…started on her upper arms and moved down a little on her lower arms.  She also gets a little rash on her cheeks.  She has no fever and it doesn’t itch but I will try to get her to the doctor tomorrow after school.  Ella was very excited for ballet and when we got there, all the lights were out.  There was a black out on Bay Street where the school is.  The teacher improvised and had them playing games and running and dancing around to either no music or music being played on her iPhone.  The kids weren’t trippin’.  They all had a blast.  Tonight, I had a squash lesson and Sunny had a meeting so Debby and Toby came over and took Ella out to dinner.  Ella had so much fun with her sweet friends.  Thank you Debby and Toby for helping us out.  Ella loved it!  So do we!  OK – now for some pictures and a short non-musical ballet video..Ella on her way to school this morning.                                Beautiful Ella dancing down the hallway.

It was a beautiful weekend here…a tiny bit cold but the rain was gone for the most part and the sun was shining.  On Saturday, I took Ella to a make-up ballet class.  She was making it up from the past Monday when she had a minor knee injury.  She was fantastic in the class.  There were some new kids – first time ballet school kids and some other kids who were a little younger.  The teacher asked Ella if she would be the helper in the class.  Ella loved taking on that role.  On Saturday night, Sunny and I went to a “Leaping Lizard” cocktail party that 2 of the class parents hosted.  It was really a great party – there are some great parents in our class and great teachers and it was really nice to be able to take a load off, leave the kids behind, and have an adult evening.  We got home close to midnight – almost a record for us since Ella.

Here’s Ella before we left for the party.  She was all ready in her Annie pajamas.

This morning, before we went out, Mommy was at the gym and Ella and I were downstairs drawing.  She loves her dry erase easel.

After doing some art, Ella hopped on her bike and we were on our way to the Crossroads Cafe.  We stopped to put air in Ella’s tires on the way there.

Ella playing in the wildlife at the Crossroads Cafe.

Our friends Simon, Tonya and Lola met us at Crossroads.  Here is a great shot of Lola sitting in Ella’s bicycle basket.

 Here are some shots from our afternoon at the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  What a beautiful day.  It was Lola’s first time there.

It was a really fun day – especially for Ella.

Now here is a pretty long but very sweet ballet video.