Playdates and friends

Dear Ella,

When I decided to be a stay at home mom I was worried about you being able to meet and interact with other babies your age. It was scary to think that I would be your only friend! We have met a great group of moms and babies and you have made some wonderful little friends.

Kiera, Andrew, Brooke, and Maia are all your little buddies and we meet with them and other babies about once a week. You crawl together, you stand together, and you of course share your treats together! I can't believe that you won't be this small forever and that you and these special little ones will one day grow up and your play will change.

I want you to know about your first friends. Your first experiences playing and talking, sharing cheerios and pulling eachother's hair. You are a little bit of a bully. You have knocked down other babies, scratched them, climbed over them, and stolen their toys. I don't think you mean to, you are just learning. When you make another baby cry you feel bad and usually yell at them in your baby voice. As you get older I think you will be a leader. You cruise down hallways and into rooms that are off limits, others in tow. You also start nice baby yelling contests to see who can yell the loudest. If one baby has something, you must have it too. This includes their bottles, snacks, toys, pretty much everything.

I am so proud of you and your ability to play and learn. I hope that as you grow you will always have friends around you. You try new things, meet new people, and are never afraid to lead the way.

All my love,
Mommy

You and Brooke at playgroup

Your first sporting event!

Dear Ella,

On May 5th we took you to your first sporting event - Seattle Sounders soccer. We were very excited to share with you our love of sports and even more excited that your first experience would be soccer. For your first game I made you a Rave Green hairbow since we had a hard time finding a Sounders shirt that was small enough (you are very small for your age!). I dressed you in green and put the hairbow in your hair and off we went!

After a rocky ride into Seattle (you cried...a lot) we pulled into the parking garage and Daddy and his friend left for the pregame activities while you and mommy had a nice little snack in the car. You and Mommy then made your way to the game! Walking there we passed a lot of gree clad fans and even a fiddler who was playing some fun music that you liked! Mommy and Daddy got pictures with you and as we walking into Century Link Field you got a lot of compliments on your bow and your overall adorableness.

You did really well during the game! Towards halftime you got hungry and you snacked on some puff foods and felt much better. Then you sang to the music and had a good time watching the rest of the game. We had to take a diaper break and unfortunately you missed your first goal (bad timing) but after hearing the fireworks and cheers we were pretty happy that we missed the loud noise.

After the game you slept all the way home and woke up very happy! Next stop Mariner's baseball!

Love you so much, and Daddy and I are so proud of what a little sports fan you turned out to be!

Love,
Mommy