I love finding photos that I never knew I had. I found this series of Ella when she was 3. I don't remember taking them but I love how they make me feel when I look at them. They have a cool grainy texture (probably resulting from the low pixels on my first digital camera.) Here we are sitting on our first couch that we bought from Pier 1. We're in the window of our old row house apartment on Park Street in Salt Lake City. Ella's hair is still the texture of baby and she still has baby chub skin that you just want to eat with butta. She's wearing that dress. That dress that I loved that
Aunt Karen bought for her in the West Village.
Ella turned 7 on Aug 24th. She got a hip short hairdo, lost her front tooth and carries a purse with lip gloss. She's my girl and will be passing her petite mama up as I will soon be staring at her belly button. Another year and we'll be sharing shoes from Payless! She's already stronger than me and boosts to everyone about how she can carry me around and how she can beat me in foot wars.
Things I've noticed as of late...
As always her creative mind. She has never been a kid that bores easily. (Okay, except when she tells me she is bored)...but even now she is able to conjure up a character or act out a scenario both in her mind and out. She also can come up with combinations of words that don't make sense in a literal way but then when you think about the way she combines the words it just works. I think she gets this from her dad. Wade has always been able to spit out rhymes on the spot and come up with clever sayings that everyone can't help but want to repeat. Word to my baby mama!
Ella loves all that is "old fashioned." She is always telling me that the old school is better than the new school. She still wears dresses most of the time and tells me that girls should not wear jeans. (Okay, grandma winnie!) While celebrating her birthday we went to a thrift store in Hermosa Beach and she bought a wide brimmed ribbon hat that she calls her orphan Annie hat. She wears it without hesitation and it looks adorable with her dresses. I'm just waiting for those high school musical obsessed kids to make fun of her. She too will grow out of this phase too one day and tell me that "the movie Annie is not nearly as cool as you think it is mom!" Until then I'm loving her obsession with all that is old.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that Ella needs to follow her true love...this being water. Today at the pool...she had to swim 2 laps freestyle for the lifeguard before she could use the diving board. I watched her in fascination. Granted she swims crooked and leaps out of the water like a gigantic barreling sea creature, but there really is something to it. I see her confidence beaming when she is in water.
Ella really cares about people and seems to have this uncanny ability to understand people. She wears her emotions on her sleeve and can't hide much from anybody. I've seen this exhibited through her relationships with friends. She really loves them even so much that she has to tell them outright several times. It's partially her being needy and unsure of herself but I also see the innocence behind it and the shear joy that she gets from loving people.
Happy Birthday Ella. I love you. I really do, I love you lots.
Ella got into the Charter school again this year and this time we said yes! So instead of that nice leisurely walk to our mediocre public school we are making the long trek across town to Hollywood each day for what we hope will be a better learning environment for Ella. It's crazy because Hollywood is only 10 miles from here but Los Angeles is tricky like that... its roads and traffic play games with you... it can make you crazy. I'm putting a carpool together to ease the pain but either way I'm going to have to be in the car everyday.
This has been on repeat in the car for the last few weeks and I can always count on it when the kids are being nasty. All I have to do is turn it up loud and we are all singing at the top of our voices... then when we get home we watch the animated dvd that goes with it. We are awaiting the arrival of the second disc that focuses on the ABC's. Highly recommended kid music. It's actually good! Imagine that. Way to go They Might Be Giants!
