Ja hoo!

The past few days have been personally satisfying and Germanly encouraging for me.
Today I took both girls swimming. The event started and ended with some tears (not mine, thankfully!), featured pee on the floor, and a dirty swim diaper, but on the whole it was a raging success. We swam outside, played in the kids' pool, sat in a warm tub and had a tonne of fun.
Yesterday I went to a flea market (ALWAYS exciting) with my friend, and despite the rain, found a few items for my new nephew who will be joining the world in August. Yay! Then Kaia and I headed to the dentist since she had a little fall that resulted in a pushed-in tooth. Everything seems fine for now. The visit was encouraging for me since the dentist didn't speak English. I filled out the form, booked new appointments for Lia and Kaia and spoke with the dentist and receptionist all in German. Let's just hope I understood as much as I think I did!
After picking up Lia at Kindergarten, the three girls went shopping with a few goals, one of which was to get haircuts. Despite some major fussiness BOTH Lia and I got our hair cut. (Wow!) The girls were angelic while they waited for me, and I spoke German to the hairdresser. I even explained "hockey hair" to her in order to illustrate why I wanted the back trimmed a little shorter.
So I feel that I've turned another corner on the language front. Although it's always difficult, and I get impatient, I'm pretty encouraged, too. And Lia is always willing to translate for me! :)