watermelon action, no fireworks though.Eleanor is speaking more clearly and just more. She says, "Mama, (or Papa) come." She has been pretending with her baaaalanket a lot recently! Today it was a towel, a hood, and a hat. Mostly she was drying herself off with it. While she engages in this play she repeats words that pertain to her play, like in today's play, "dry off" was her refrain.
She tells me to "get it!" whenever there is a fly in the room. I feel a little conflicted about taking the life of these beings in front of her, but I got to do what I got to do, and these flies have to go!
We are looking forward to Kristin's visit VERY much!!!! She will be here in mid-August, hooray! We hope that a visit from Opa will follow in September.
Tomorrow afternoon Eleanor and I are going with her buddies to the city center for some Eis (ice cream). I think this is her first official outing with friends! I am very excited.
She and I have been settling into a nice routine with our playgroup, food shopping at the market and various other fun activities for her. She is much more patient while we are running errands now. Some of the contributing factors are good food and strategic timing but also, her mode of transport has improved dramatically! We finally got a trailer for our bike so that we can haul her around town in style! I also got a new bike, which helps me keep my cool on the return trip up the hill.
Last weekend was big fun for us all. We rode our bikes up the enormous hill to Nicholausberg (the town closest to Mike's job come August) to visit with some friends that used to live in our community. Now they live in a really great single family home with nice garden and terrace in the back. The kids played German style (sans clothes) in the kiddy pool, frolicked and peed freely! Then to bed for the kiddos and we the parents had our clothed fun by sitting, talking and eating until midnight! Holy Cow!!! The leisurely ride back home the next morning was a pleasant reward and we decided to continue on past home while Eleanor slept to get some delicious grilled Bratwurst for lunch and some fresh produce for our dinner.
Sunday was grand as well. It has finally gotten hot here and so we finally went to the outdoor swimming pool. Not only was it really affordable (just 3 euro per adult and e was free) but the grounds were beautiful! There was lots of shady area provided by tall trees and umbrellas, and folks were camping out everywhere without it seeming crowded though. There was a pretty standard lane pool, but the main event was a salt water lake that had a huge slide attached to it. There was a pebbly shallow area that e played in tirelessly, and that was where we watched the people come crashing down the slide. The baby pool was enormous and partly under shade (which i think is brilliant), which we also hit up for awhile. Again we enjoyed some Bratwursts and pomme frites and Mike and I baked in the sun.
Hooray for a wholesome German weekend full of sport and play. Happy fourth of July!!!
