31 for 21 : Birthday Party Part 1

That's right. Part 1. This little girl has more birthday celebrations than anyone I know, but she also enjoys her birthday more than anyone!!! It helps that we were in Georgia the week before her birthday so we got to celebrate with our family down there!  Her first birthday party was a pool party at Grandad and BeBe's house!

Ella looked so cute waiting for her "guests!"

She totally looked like a little surfer girl : )

My beautiful girl....she is growing up WAYYYYYY too fast!!!

I LOVE this picture but it's blurry : (

Grandad, Ella and BeBe

With sweet Bubba too!!!!

Surfing!

Paige and Ella.....I think Paige has grown even more since we have been here (remember she is only 4!!!!!)

Sassy cousins!

Pool time!!

Dinner time!

Dustin and Hunter

Ella tried on several occasions to open her presents...without the rest of us, so she was super excited when it was finally present time!  Grandad and BeBe got Ella a doll that has very long hair....

to go with her new salon chair! Ella LOVES to play hair salon these days!!!  She loves this!

She got a coloring book, some cool crayons and some My Little Ponies from Paige!!  She was excited!

Bubba got her a Woody, Jesse and Bullseye

Grandmom and Grandad got her new clothes and a diaper bag ("Mommy Bag") for her new Cabbage Patch doll, and Go Fish, and a little picture frame from the Cabbage Patch Hospital and they put her and baby Lexi Caillou's picture in it! She loved it!

Hugging the picture of herself : )

Opening Nana's present!

Nana got her an ice cream cone making kit for Playdoh and a Monster's Inc playdoh kit where she can cut their hair!!!  She was none to happy when I packed it up tonight. Sorry Ella!!!!

Ella and Paige fixing up the new baby!

Grandmom, Ella, Paige and Grandad

Ella's ice cream cake....yummy!!

I can't believe my baby is about to be 7!!!

Marie, Paige, Ella, Dustin and Nana

Dustin and Hunter! Hunter sure had fun with Dustin the last two days!!

Grandad, Ella, Hunter, BeBe and Ruby!  Yay...I finally got good pics of them (Dad and Debbie aren't fans of my camera : )

4 Generations!

31 for 21 - Day 1

Happy first day of Down Syndrome Awareness Month!!!!  I am participating in the 31 for 21 challenge again this year! I always use this time as kind of an Ella update, as obviously I am not so good at keeping this blog updated (but I do update my other one daily at 365hunterandella.blogspot.com .)  This past year has been a good one, despite some medical issues and some school issues!  I look forward to actually writing this month and hope to think of more things to write about!!!!  I will start the month off with a recent video of Ella, taken last Friday!!!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Here is the link if you can't see the video above, HERE.

First and Last Day of School

The things I do to torture my kids....this morning I decided to recreate the pictures I took of the kids on their first day of school! They weren't very thrilled but they cooperated!!

Hunter's first day of 3rd grade

And the last day!  He definitely looks more excited on the first day!

I think I like his hair a little longer, like on the 1st day : )

Hunter looks more grown up to me!!!  He had a fantastic year and a great teacher!  I am always so amazed at how smart and sweet this boy is!!!

Ella's first day of Kindergarten!

And her last day!

I loved this picture on the 1st day!

And we both giggled while trying to recreate it : )

When we first arrived at school that first day Ella was very nervous and on the verge of tears. She wanted to go to her "old school" (preschool.)

On her last day she is a very confident girl! She learned SO much this year! Her kindergarten year was more than I could ever hope for! I am so proud of her!

A huge part of Ella's success this year was because she had a great special ed teacher, Mrs Miller.  She worked so well with Ella and had high expectations for her!  You know it's been a great year when the teacher cries in the hallway (and makes me cry) because she will miss Ella!!!

Her wonderful teachers! Mrs Miller (spec ed,) Ella, Mrs Martins (gen ed) in the front row and Mrs "M," Mrs Crow, and Mrs LaPlante in the back row!

Chatting with my girl

When I got out of the shower tonight Ella came in the bathroom and was hanging out with me while I brushed my hair.

 "Wow mommy I like you hair!" I said thank you! She said "I help you if you want."

 For those of you that know me, you know my hair is very curly, and therefore she very rarely get to brush/play with my hair. So, even though it was 10:00PM I decided to seize the moment and let Ella play with my hair. My hair may never be the same, but those were some of the best 20 minutes ever! She literally brushed my hair for 20 minutes, and chatted the whole time!!! Some of the highlights....

 "You hair curly like Brave."

"I brush it looks like Oreo." (Ariel in Ella talk. Can you tell she is obsessed with Disney princesses? And can I just say I think that is quite observant!)

 "When I grown up I brush hair. It be my job. I cut it too."

 "When I old lady I drive car. I have my own keys. Own phone. My own cards like you." (License and debit card. Is she saying I am an old lady?)

 "When I grown up I have MY own house." Wow. So so sweet.

 And you know what? I bet that Ella can and will do whatever she sets her mind to!!!

Communication Issue

  I picked Ella up from school today and she didn't say a word to me just walked through the office and out the door. I caught up to her and she held my hand. I asked her how her day was and she started to sob and said "I get no recess and no snack." I got her to the van and began asking questions, "Did you get in trouble?" She says no. "Did your friends go to recess?" Yes. "Did you pull your card?" No. She just kept sobbing. Finally she said "Mrs Miller say big problem. I really sad." (Mrs. Miller is her special ed teacher.) Hmmmm. So I ask her again if she pulled her card (their form of punishment/warnings,) NO! So, I began to worry, and I became sad.

  I think that Ella speaks pretty well. I understand probably 99% of what she says and even if I don't understand a word she has ways of getting me to understand. However some things are hard for her to express. I don't know what it is. Something about trying to remember something, formulate the thought into sentences and get them out of her mouth??? I just don't know. For example EVERY SINGLE DAY after school I ask her how was your day? And EVERY SINGLE DAY I get "I play recess. Monkeybars." The end. Now I know kids do that, Hunter would talk about recess and lunch and PE in Kindergarten but then he would expand. It's just one of those little things that gets to me.

  So back to today. We get home and I check her backpack, no note. I check my email, nothing. So I call the special ed teachers desk, no answer. I call the gen ed teacher's desk, no answer. At this point I am on a mission to find out what happened. I figured that perhaps she got in trouble, (it's happened one other time this school year and they kept her in from recess,) but she doesn't ever get this upset about getting in trouble. I called the main line for Ella's school and told the secretary that Ella was really upset about something that happened at school today and I can't understand what she is talking about. Luckily Ella's gen ed teacher was standing right there.

  Apparently Miss Ella had a really rough day. It started with not sitting still and paying attention at circle, then taking her shoes off to show everyone her painted toe nails and refusing to put her shoes back on. Then she refused to leave circle time and go to her table and when she finally did go to the table she went under it and refused to get out. The list goes on, a lot of refusal and not focusing. So, when it came time for recess they had her stay in and work on something she hadn't done as well as practice getting up from circle time and go to her table. BUT she did get snack with the rest of her class : ) I thanked her teacher, they really are just so wonderful with Ella, and got off the phone and had a little chat with Ella.

I asked her what happened at circle time, she told me "I take off my shoes and show my friends my pretty nails." What happened when it was time to go to your seat, "I go under table." Etc. And this is what makes me sad. Not that she had a rough day (although it leaves me wondering because she had an awesome morning and has been great since we had our talk a bad day with her could mean poor sleep or that she is getting sick, or maybe she just didn't feel like doing anything who knows) but that she was completely unable to tell me what had happened until I had the actual information and could ask the right questions. What if someone had been mean to her on the playground and a teacher wasn't there to witness it. Would I ever know why she was upset? Does this get better with age as she communicates better and better? I sure hope so.

There aren't a whole lot of things that make me sad when it comes to Ella anymore (unless health related in which I think somethings are just so unfair!) But seriously this kid makes me proud on a daily basis, she overcomes so much just to do everyday things that we take for granted. She makes me laugh, A LOT, every single day. And most of all she brings me so much joy. But every once in a great while some thing happens that takes the wind out of my sails and today was just one of those days.

On a positive note we picked up Ella's new glasses today and they seem to fit great!!!!  Her other ones she had had for 2 1/2 years and were definitely getting too small!!  She is a hard girl to fit with her tiny facial features and different facial structure.  So far so good, they are staying up and of course she looks cute as can be in them!!!!  She really is so tolerant when it comes to things like that, I hate when I get new glasses or contacts, but not Ella she really is a trooper!!!

Happy Easter!