Life With Ella

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.

Today we took Ella to a picnic in Douglass Park that was an all school picnic.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and we all had a really nice time.  Ella played on the playground equipment with some of her classmates and she actually took off her shoes and ran around barefoot in the sand.  The parents that we met were nice and the kids are all so cute.  The first year parents were all comparing notes on how many tears have been shed since the first day of school.  Ella took a long nap after the picnic and we just all hung around the house.  Ella is still recovering from a cold and we’re recovering from waking up so early in the morning during the week to get Ella ready for school. Ella going down the slide – the cute kid behind her is her classmate Tate’.

Ella loves her Tootie sweatshirt.

We could not love Ella more!

Another week of school has come and gone.  Ella did a great job this week.  There is definitely still some anxiety at drop off, but there weren’t  any tears all week.  The next thing that Ella needs to conquer is to go an entire week without having an accident.  During our potty training family meeting back in early August, Ella requested a computer upon potty training completion.  We did buy the “computer” for Ella, but haven’t given it to her.  She knows that she needs to have a week without accidents in order to get the computer.  Today after an accident she told Alicia, “I am going to get a computer when I am potty trained and don’t have any accidents”.  Alicia asked Ella if she was going to get anything.  Ella looked at her and said, “Yes, you can have a present too”.  I asked Ella what she wanted to get Alicia and Ella said, “A popsicle”.  Pretty sweet considering that Ella LOVES popsicles.

I went to Old Navy today and picked up 2 costumes.  They were $17 each and I couldn’t resist.  One was a cat and the other was a monkey.  I really didn’t like the cat very much but Ella asked for it.  We also ordered a bee costume for Ella – one that she saw in a catalogue.  It came today too, so Ella had a massive dress up party after school.  The cat was cute – it lasted until we went to the mail place to pick up the bee.  The bee was really cute but really cheap.  Ella loved it and wandered around the building in it for quite a while.  The worst part for me was that it was a leotard and tights and very difficult to get off – not a good thing for trying to go to the bathroom really quickly.  I noticed a hole on one of the wings and told Ella that it was a cheap costume and we had to return it.  She didn’t seem too sad to part with it.  She also didn’t let a second go by between wearing the bee and the monkey.  She loved the monkey and it is my favorite too.

Tonight when mommy came home from work, I left to run some errands and came home to mommy and Ella cooking lasagne together.  Ella loved cooking with mommy and mommy was so happy to cook with Ella.  The lasagne was delicious.  Ella had a huge full day and I am completely exhausted.  Goodnight.

Our psychodelic kid on the way to school.

Ella was showing us the spot where she naps every day.

I took these right after school before we got into the car.  Ella was fooling around in front of this wall by the Mission Dolores church.

Sauce…

Olives

Cheese!

Ella wearing her new Tootie (from Yo Gabba Gabba) sweatshirt.  We figured that if she had a sweatshirt from a character that she loves, maybe she would wear it without putting up a fight.  So far it worked – and she even wanted the hood up!

Ella was getting tickled by mommy.  Pure happiness.

Ella had a great day at school today.  At the end of the day, Alicia told us that instead of them reminding Ella to go to the bathroom, Ella told them every time that she needed to go.  Ella made her first poop at school!  Today was an accident free day.  Tonight, we had dinner with Becca at Paragon.  Becca lives across the street from Paragon and at the end of the meal Ella said, “Becca, I want to go across the street to your house and get Tucker and take him for a walk.”   Becca said that would be great but she had to check with us.  Then Ella looked at Becca and said, “I want to go to your house only with YOU”.  It was so sweet – Ella wanted her alone time with Becca.  Mommy and I waited in the lobby for Becca and Ella for a few minutes and then mommy got a call from Becca.  The call sounded like this.  BECCA: “Come on Ella, let’s go downstairs and take Tucker for a walk.”  ELLA:  “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go downstairs…” and it went on.  Sunny went up and got Ella.  It was a sweet night.  One more thing – Ella and Sunny were in the bathroom at Paragon and Ella was peeing and she looked at Sunny and said, “I am potty trained.”  Yes she is!

Another morning running down the hall to get to school.  We put a peace shirt on Ella this morning in honor of 9/11.

Playing in the classroom before circle time.

One Ella’s drawings displayed in the classroom.  She has been drawing a lot of peacocks lately.

Swinging after school has become a ritual for us.

Ella had a love fest with her buddy Becca

One very tired child attempting to take Tucker for a walk.

Today was another great day getting Ella to school.  She still gets a little anxious/clingy, but she hasn’t cried or asked us to stay with her like she did last week.  She also said, “I hope Brickelle is here today” referring to the little girl that was in the picture yesterday.  I guess Ella is forming a school friendship.  When we brought Ella into the classroom this morning, we noticed that jobs were posted on one of the bulletin boards with kid’s pictures attached to them.  Ella’s job today was washing the tables.  We thought it was so great that they are teaching responsibility at this young age and that the kids probably feel so special getting their jobs.  When we picked Ella up today, she wanted to go high on the swings and of course we took her on the swings.  We had dinner tonight at Acme.Another day of school! Job posting.Ella looking a little dazed right before we left the classroom.Ballerina Ella all clean after her bath and ready to go to Acme.

For the second morning in a row, Ella didn’t cry when we dropped her off at school.  Alicia told us that Ella is doing really well.  She talks to the other kids and is very active – especially with art.  We also found out that Ella naps for anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Basically, Ella has a very active morning, has lunch and then sleeps until about 1/2 hour before school is over.  She’s taking care of herself in this transitional time.  Today when we picked up Ella, she looked like a wreck.  She has had a cold for 2 days and she looked so spacey.  She told us that she had a great day and a lot of fun.  We pushed her on the swings and one of her classmates, Brickelle joined us.  Stella came over for their special Tuesday playdate.  They were really happy to be with each other.  They played over here.  Maybe Ella’s cool about being here since she is in school all day.  At around 6:00, Ella and I went over to Helen and Ron’s for a delicious dinner.  Mommy was at a Giants Community Fund Board meeting.  Ella was a little tired and testy, but she did a great job tonight.  She really didn’t want to leave the Kim/Arena’s house for anything!  As soon as I got her home I gave her a binky and she calmed down.  She took a bath, got into bed and told me what she wanted to have for breakfast (banana yogurt, a hard boiled egg and a muffin).  She told me that she wanted to wear the same shirt that Stella has with brown tights and that she wanted to watch Pinnochio from “When You Wish Upon a Star” to “I Got No Strings”.  Her whole little morning is perfectly planned out. Good morning – time to go to school.Ella playing in the classroom right before we dropped her off.Playing on the swings with Brickelle.

Last night Ella told us this, “Nobody should take me to school – nobody, nobody, nobody”.  This resistance was something new to us but we plowed through it and told her that we were going to take her to school and that hopefully she would try to have a good day.  Ella was a little whiny this morning but by the time we left for school, she was actually in a pretty good mood.  We got to school and she tried to cling to Sunny but Sunny walked her to a place in the classroom where there were some other kids and Ella started playing with a puzzle.  By the time we left 5 minutes later, she kissed us and hugged us and didn’t cry at all.  Sunny had an appointment in the afternoon so she couldn’t meet to pick up Ella.  I picked up Ella and she seemed great.  She had different leggings on and the teacher said that at one point, she stood in the room, opened her legs and peed on the floor.  Not so great, but this was only the second accident that she has had so far at school.  Her teacher, Alicia then told me something that she thought was really funny.  She said that this boy was going to the bathroom and that he was pooping.  When he was done, he bent all the way over to wipe.  The teacher looked over and she saw Ella coming right at him with her finger out ready to poke him right in the butt.  Oy.  I asked Ella about this and she ignored me.  I’m happy that the teacher thought it was funny.  Ella has been really into drawing pictures of peacocks – very bright beautiful pictures.  I think she’s doing really well at school.

Ella chillin’ out watching Dora after school.

Today was Strike Out Violence Day.  The pre-game ceremony was moving.  Christopher Rodriguez, an 11 year old boy who was hit by a stray bullet while taking a piano lesson and paralyzed from the waist down, threw out the first pitch.  3 young women from his school of the performing arts performed the national anthem.  It was beautiful.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures because I was on the field with Ella and Sunny.  Before the game, there were Looney Tune characters walking around promoting healthy eating.  Ella got to meet Tweety, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.  She was so excited to see them.  She had no idea who they were, but they were cute and large and they made Ella happy.  We met up with the Kim/Arena clan at the game.  Ella was so happy to see the girls.  She had been talking about them all morning so by the time we met up, she was bursting!  We took the 3 girls to the Build A Bear store at the stadium and they all got their own build a bear things.  There is a cute video at the end of this showing the girls putting a lot of love into the hearts that the lady puts into the bear.  We ended the evening blowing huge bubbles in the garden.  Ella goes back to school tomorrow.  We hope it’s a little easier for her this week.  We’ll see…

Ella and her “character” friends.

Mommy and Ella on the field.

Here we are with Lou Seal.

Look at the beautiful bubbles.

Here’s the Build A Bear video