March....Also known as "Still Freaking Cold"

Johan looked at the weather report on his phone this morning and made a yelp sound. It was going to be 2 degrees celcius, and -8 Celsius with wind. It's a good thing he just decided to rent a bike instead of taking the bus! He was so excited to get some exercise out in the "fresh" air. Wish granted!

Axel has so much energy and just wants to move constantly that it has always been a struggle to take him to restaurants. But after my birthday trip in Paris, I was in awe of all the toddlers walking and not in strollers, sitting at restaurants, and doing all of these things with the grown ups, instead of the grown ups following the kids around, doing everything the kids wanted to do. So we started taking him to a local cafe, sitting, and getting him used to sitting at a restaurant. It's gone pretty well so far, but our time limit is pretty short. We pretty much get max a half hour, but we'll take what we can get.

Last weekend we went to Sweden for Easter. It was so nice to be back and see Johan's family and walk to the shops in town. It was also bone chilling cold....either at or below freezing. All of the lakes were still frozen over as well, that was crazy to see at the end of March.

Axel has a couple of new words. They are not actual words, but a deformation of what he thinks the word should be. For example, "door" in Spanish is "puerta", so he says "gggggga". Kind of sounds like if you would gurgle then add an a at the end. I think he says it this way because he can't roll his r's yet. He also points to where he wants you to sit and says "sits". So I guess that's Swedish, "sitt"? He can't say he's hungry yet, so he will put his hands up to his mouth and say "nom, nom, nom" to let us know he's hungry. He is absolutely obsessed with trains, or "choo choo", as he calls it. All day every day he asks for choo choo. He is also obsessed with his sippy cup of water, or, "agua", as he calls it. It is his security blanket. We take it on stroller rides, have it in hand around the house, and he takes it to bed with him.

Sleep has been interesting lately. We were on such a good schedule, then we went to Sweden. We didn't bring his tent, so it was really hard getting him to sleep in the pack n play at Johan's parents' apartment. He climbed out of it and cried and cried. So we ended up reclining the stroller and taking him for walks. He'd fall asleep and we'd just wheel him into the bedroom. At bedtime, we'd take a walk, then transfer him to the crib after he passed out. Now back in his tent in Turnhout, it was rough the first night. He didn't want to be left alone and woke up the entire night, and I had to lay next to him until he fell asleep. But he's getting adjusted again and is starting to fall asleep by himself and is finally sleeping through the night again.

He has become pickier with what he eats. I try to give him new things every once in a while, but the foods I can be sure he'll eat are shepherds pie (with carrots), spaghetti bolognese (also with carrots), avocado sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, and yogurt with granola. Green veggies are tough, I might have to blend them into the sauce somehow. And if he hates my food, I always have a large jar of toddler food on hand, which he loves. Why don't they sell this in the U.S.? It's a lifesaver.

Now we have two weeks left here in Turnhout. I am feeling ready to go back home, but am also really loving my Mom group and all the wonderful people I've met here. I love Ramona, Marjan, and Saartje. They are all fun to talk to and have the cutest kids.

Today we actually jogged to daycare! When we got there I noticed the Muslim woman who runs it wasn't wearing her head scarf. I don't know much about Islam, so I asked her why she wasn't wearing it. She said because there were no men around. I didnt know that was why they wore the scarves, to cover their upper bodies. I was curious, so I asked her more questions. She told me about the religion, and how important it is for Muslims to pass the religion on to their kids. But she also said that it's hard being a Muslim in Europe, because they want to raise their kids with this religion that many people dont understand. for example, the head scarves, and they don't eat pork, etc. She also said it's harder after September 11th.

I told her I thought it was sad how some Christians have acted toward Islam after 9-11. I told her that we were Christians, but that our church teaches the importance of loving people from other religions. That our former church invited leaders from other religions such as Judaism and Islam to come and speak. Not with the goal of changing what we believe, but to encourage a respect, understanding, and hopefully, a love for those who believe differently from us. We talked more, and at the end, I had such an immense respect for her. I could tell that she had a huge heart for God and that she was truly loving and kind. I have never really spoken deeply with a Muslim before, and now I feel like I have a very high respect for them, regardless of our religious differences. It's also really cool to see that Muslims in our mom group in Turnhout are not segregated, they all talk and seem to really respect each other. You would expect the women with head scarves in one corner together, and the ones without in another corner, but it's not at all that way. Everyone is friends. That is so refreshing. Why can't the rest of the world be like this?

Belgium, Part Deux

We have now been in Belgium for five weeks, and have about that many more left. So far, we have loved almost every minute. Axel and I have a good routine down, have made some really great friends from the open daycare we visit regularly, and Johan has been loving the change of atmosphere, including regular social coffee breaks at work, as well as a hardcore lunchtime running group.

I have been really amazed at how kind people are here. I was kind of expecting the gruff, introvert most people think of when they imagine Euopeans in the winter. But people here usually approach me and Axel, start talking, are willing to help us get to know the town, and are so friendly.
 

Notre Dame



 For my birthday in February, I told Johan that all I wanted was to go to Paris. Like a good husband, he gave me my wish. His mom and dad drove down from Sweden to stay with us and took care of Axel while we took off for three days. We stayed in the Montparnasse area of Paris, on the Rue du Rennes, which is south of the Seine, close to the center....Louvre, Notre Dame, etc. however, Parisian blocks are ginormous, so even though you might be five blocks away, it could take you 20 minutes to walk them. So we bought metro passes. Our hotel had such tiny rooms, but they decorated them so smart and luxuriously that you couldn't, and didn't, care.

Atop Le Tour Eiffel, freezing les buns off

Eiffel Tower by night

We arrived on Friday and walked around the area close to our hotel. We walked around and found a restaurant on the Boulevard du Montparnasse. I had a gizzard salad (Dad would be proud), and Johan had salad with goat cheese on bread. I went to use the bathroom, which was the size of a telephone booth. When I came out to wash my hands, I put soap on my hands but then noticed the faucet was simply a metal pipe that came down vertically from the ceiling (space saver, smart). There was no faucet handle! What the heck? I noticed a sign that was on the wall to the left that said a bunch of stuff in French. The main words seemed to be "eau", "sol", and "droite". I knew that "eau" meant water, and in Spanish "sol" means sun, and I couldn't remember what "droite" meant. Was the water solar powered? A lot of times there is no faucet and you just have to wave your hands around underneath the faucet, so I waved my hands everywhere I could in the vicinity underneath the faucet. I already had slathered my hands with soap, so I felt helpless. I started to walk away when I stepped on a bump in the floor. Huh? I pushed on it with my foot and voila! Water! Oh, so "sol" means floor. Like "suelo" in Spanish. Wow, I must have looked dumb spending that much time trying to figure that out. After that, we had a mediocre dinner but good atmosphere.


 On Saturday we ran around town trying to cram in all the goodness you're expected to cram in while in Paris. It was absolutely freezing, 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and we were extremely unprepared clothing-wise. Johan really wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I am not much for touristy things, but I went along with it. We walked to the second floor, which is like walking to the 40th floor of a building. Then we waited in line to get to the top. The lines took so long, the entire trip up and down took about 2 1/2 hours. We were frozen solid, but we were going to make it to the top, darn it! When we got to the top, Johan mentioned that the view looked the same as it did from the second floor.


That night we watched Django Unchained in English at the movie theatre, and collapsed in bed, realizing that being a tourist is a lot of work.

The next day, the sun came out and it was warm!! We have recently realized why Northern Europeans always announce when the sun comes out...because it feels as if someone has let you out of a dark closet. You feel light, happy, and full of life. Amazing, how we forgot that feeling from our days living in Sweden.



That day, I was smart and bought a medicated patch for my back to get me through the walking we'd be doing all day. We saw the Louvre, walked Champs Élysées, and saw Silver Linings Playbook as a matinee. That evening, we met our friends Braedan and Amelia for dinner (they live there).



Just a chicken in Paris



That dinner was by far the best food experience we've had in Paris. We ate at cafe Constant just north of the Eiffel Tower. Fabulous food. After dinner we walked to the Eiffel Tower and watched the hourly lights show, which occurs every hour on the hour and lasts a couple of minutes. As we parted ways and walked towards the subway, we mentioned how nice it was to do something that made us feel like locals and not tourists.



The next day we went to sacre coeur church, saw a man dressed like a chicken, did some souvenir shopping, them went to catch our train back to Belgium.

One of the things we loved most about Paris is that almost anywhere you go, each building is incredibly beautiful. You are always in awe, and you never have a bad view.





Farmor is making semla! Da me!



Since we've been back to our temporary home in Belgium, we've been spending time with Johan's family. Axel has really warmed up to Farmor and Farfar Fransson, aunt Maria, and Uncle Simon. They are all so good to him, he just loves them. He has also really seemed to love all the attention and puts on quite a show for everyone. We have been very spoiled since Farmor and Farfar take Axel to the park almost every day, so I've been able to go shopping and relax during the weekdays, while Johan and I got to go to Antwerp and Roermond (holland) this weekend with Maria and Simon.







Still waiting...da me, da me!



It hasn't really struck me that I'm back on full time Mom duty tomorrow, since the Franssons are leaving back to Sweden. I'm trying to enjoy this "time off" feeling as long as I can.

One short stint on Axel....his favorite words are "da ma" ("give me" in Spanish), and "maaaaaaas", which is "mas" said really long and drawn out, which means mooooooooore, or more. The longer the mas, the more he wants to make sure that you understand he wants more. If you don't give him more, he starts to scream "da me, da me, da me!"




 

Mmmm, finally got his semla

Overall, these last five weeks have been such a blessing to us. We are so thankful for what we have and what we've been given in this opportunity to live and work abroad. This experience has definitely given us so much more than we expected. Thanks, Belgium, for loving us so much, thanks Johnson and Johnson for sending Johan here, thanks, Franssons for being so wonderful, and thank you God for being the master planner of it all.









 






Franssons having a semla moment

 





The Terrible Twos

Tantrums have been part of our daily life for a while now, but coming to a new country has made it even more difficult. Life back home was relatively quick and easy. Slip on some shoes and go outside to play. I knew where to go shopping, and always had some sort of plan for Axel to have some play time. We had a pretty good routine that suited us well.

But here in Belgium, we're all screwed up. We live in an apartment, and it's winter, so if we want to go outside it takes at least 15 minutes just to put warm clothes on. That's usually prolonged because Axel hates putting on his jacket, so he'll run into a corner of the apartment, drop to the ground, cry, and play what I call "dead fish" where he won't budge. He also absolutely refuses to wear his mittens. He will then insist on riding his bike, which isn't always possible. So if I'm lucky, he will comply and sit in the stroller. If I'm not so lucky, he will insist on walking or biking, and will stop and be sad at every piece of trash (yes, litter makes him really sad) and try to jump off of every doorstep along our way. This usually ends up in traveling a distance of about one block per 45 minutes.

This is pretty exhausting if I want to go grocery shopping, since it's a 20 minute walk. I did buy a bus pass, which allows us to get there quicker, but for some reason, meltdowns usually occurs within five minutes of entering the grocery store. The only way I get through it is with promises. Like, "as soon as we pay, I'll let you out and walk", which does not benefit me too much since it will take us forever to get home. I always bring snacks, but those usually only buy me 20 minutes or so. But, as I have heard, the twos can be terrible!

Last weekend, we wanted to go to a shop to buy bathing suits so we could go to an indoor pool. We took the bus to the store and were there about 10 minutes when Axel had had enough. I was still trying on bathing suits, so Johan tried to keep him company. As I went to pay for the suits I heard the tantrum escalate, then silence. I went outside to see what happened, and saw this:

Axel was really cranky, so we looked for a cafe to buy a sandwich or any food, and nothing was open! Funny that in the middle of winter, the only store that was open was the swim suit store. We also realized we had no cash, and no one would take our credit card, so we wandered through Voselaar (a neighbor to Turnhout), hungry, no money, with a crying toddler. So we decided to try and catch the bus home, then realized it only came once every hour. I wanted to cry. By the time we finally got home and put Axel down for a nap, we were completely wiped out. After that day, we learned that during the terrible twos, if you want to minimize your stress, you need to be over prepared when you leave your house. Have money, have food, know the bus route, maybe bring the baby bicycle, and have a plan ahead of time for when you will let the terrible two toddler out of the stroller, so that you can better plan your schedule. These things help my days alone with Axel go a lot smoother.

Some days are really nice. When they are, I never know what I did right, I'm just thankful when they happen. The other day we walked to the canal north of town and back. It took us 1-1/2 hours, and we had no problems!

Another problem we've had since coming here is eating. When we arrived, Axel hadn't eaten in days. He had been sick, but he has never not eaten for that long. So I really wanted him to eat something. So I sat him at the table and let him watch a movie during lunch. He ate his entire meal. I was so happy. But then, after that, I realized he wouldn't eat without a movie being on. Crap. So now we are trying to wean him off. Some days go great, others aren't so great.

I think that a lot of parents are afraid of screwing their kids up. And the truth is that none of us are perfect, and we are all going to screw our kids up in some shape or form. You just have to use your instincts, try your best. Oh, and pray. I can't count how many times I've prayed for God to help me during a tantrum, and it always gets better. Either my attitude or Axels attitude changes.

Another thing is the mommy clingyness. This started a couple of months ago when he learned to say mamma and understood that I would respond to it. Now, if I leave the room, he will yell it at the top of his lungs. At first, we laughed about it because it's pretty funny. But it's not so funny when it sounds like a command.

Some nights are rough. Axel had eaten something bad and was throwing up this week, so those nights I had to replace his sheets and clothes several times throughout the night. Since he kept throwing up, I slept next to him to make sure it didn't get too messy. But instead of me being able to sleep in in the morning, he decided he wouldn't eat breakfast unless I sat at the table. If I tried to keep sleeping, he would come into our room and lay on me. Or even worse, turn on the light and make me read Goodnight Moon to him.

So, yes, the terrible twos are not much fun. But on the flipside, the personality that we see coming out is so much fun. We go to a mom/baby meetup every morning, and have been having a lot of fun there, and have made somenice new friends. It is so fun to see him point to Johan and say "mamma!" Because he thinks we are all mamma. Or walk around the apartment with his hands over his eyes playing a blind person, or hiding in the corner hoping you'll play hide and seek with him, or how much he loves to hold hands and pray before dinner, and applauds when we're done. That's the stuff we live for.

Beer

Since we arrived in Belgium, I've kind of made it my mission to learn about and try as many Belgian beers as possible. We are incredibly blessed to live upstairs from one of the best restaurants in the area. We have gotten to know the owner pretty well. We have had some really interesting discussions about the different types of beer, where they come from, and also the history of the restaurant (it's an old army recruiting site), and about Belgium in general.

We usually wait until Axel is asleep, then we walk downstairs to the restaurant. We ate lunch there today and Johan mentioned that we haven't had lunch together in who knows how long. I couldn't either remember the last time we had lunch just the two of us. We've had several dinners out since we arrived. It's so nice because since Johan's company pays for all of his meals, we don't have to be super cheap like we usually are since we only pay for me.

I have actually never liked beer. Whenever I order beer, I usually ask for the beer that tastes the most like Miller Lite. I basically want my beer to taste as much like water as possible. I don't like hops, and I don't like a strong aftertaste. So imagine my surprise when I got here, and all of a sudden, I love beer and am fascinated by it. I don't really know what happened either, but I'm rolling with it. And I think Johan is enjoying it too.

So we've started taking photos of each new beer we try, so that we can keep a record of what we've had, and what we liked or didn't like.

Sint Bernardus

Leffe brown, Omer

Duvel, Westmalle triple

La Chouffe blonde, Schuppenboer

St Feuillien blonde

Chimay Triple, Westmalle double

Now, before you start judging us for drinking this much beer in one week, let me just tell you that we are at the apex (Oh Lord, I hope so) of the terrible two's. This beer has been both delicious and enjoyable, as well as completely necessary.

• So far, our super favorites are: Chimay Triple, St. Feuillien Blonde, Omer, Westmalle Triple, Sint Bernardus
• Pretty darn good, but won't be dreaming about it: La Chouffe blonde, Schuppenboer, Duvel
• Eh, not my style: Leffe Brown
• Haven't yet tried the Westmalle double

I am particularly interested in the Trappist beers (as are probably many other people). I didn't know this until I was educated by our new friend, the restaurant owner, but Trappist beers are brewed by Trappist monks in their abbeys. There are only eight in the world, six are in Belgium. The other two are in Nederlands and Austria. The Trappist beers are Orval, Chimay, Westvleteren, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Achel.

Trappist breweries started at monasteries in France, and were later introduced in monasteries of other countries as the Trappist order spread from France into the rest of Europe. The Trappists, like many other religious people, originally brewed beer to feed the community, in a perspective of self-sufficiency. Nowadays, Trappist breweries also brew beer to fund their works and for good causes. In order to keep people from abusing the Trappist name, they have to follow strict rules.

• The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision.
• The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and it should witness to the business practices proper to a monastic way of life
• The brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture. The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the buildings and grounds. Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and to help persons in need.
• Trappist breweries are constantly monitored to assure the irreproachable quality of their beers.

I was really impressed when I learned this about the monasteries. I had assumed that they made the beer for profit, but their intentions seem very good. The also don't allow visitors in to the breweries, so they don't do it for the fame either. This is all just fascinating to me.

Okay, enough about beer. The rest of our time here is consumed by the terrible two's, but I'll save that discussion for another day.

Belgium, Week 1

Wow, it took me about 3 days just to figure out how to write an entry, since I'm using an ipad, which doesn't have a normal browser for this website, and every option for this website is all of a sudden in Dutch! I just happened to push the right button and got it right!

We arrived in Belgium on Friday evening, February 1st. The flight was good and bad. Good because Johan's company paid for him to fly business class, so he got to sip champagne and eat a 3 course dinner, while Axel got the seat next to me that was originally reserved for Johan. I didn't care, I was just happy that I didn't have a 30 pound toddler on my lap for 9 hours. Axel slept awful, only 2 hours. Luckily, as soon as he woke up, I asked Johan to take him, so I got to go sleep in Johan's business class seat! Johan woke me up 4 hours later exhausted, so I took Axel, and got him to sit in his seat and watch movies until we landed.

We are living in Turnhout, which is about an hour northeast of Brussels. It's a pretty standard looking European town. It has about 40,000 inhabitants, so not big, not small. We live on one of the main streets. We have a small market right across the street that sells vegetables, milk, and basic necessities. Next door to the market is a bakery where we buy our bread. And a couple stores down is the butcher, where we buy our meats. It's pretty quaint to have to go to three stores for all our food needs. The owner of the market already knows us, and is so nice. She gives Axel free fruit and little things to play with, and gives us free samples of things she makes for the store, like her crab spread.

All the food is so good. And the beer and chocolate absolutely deserve the good reputation. I never realized how fruits and vegetables are in the mainstream American grocery stores lack that home grown taste. We made dinner the other night and just baked carrots, potatoes, green beans, Brussel sprouts, and chicken, and it was like we had grown everything ourselves. The milk tastes much different, more creamy, and the bread is delicious. You buy a loaf at the store and they slice it right there for you. Axel loves the cheese here too.

We have been so jet lagged. We have been going to bed at a normal hour, but then Axel will wake up at around 1:00, and none of us can got to sleep for several hours. The first night, we were up until 4:30, and all woke up at 10:00! and that was because we forced ourselves to wake up. This has never happened to us, usually it's so easy to come to Europe. Our theory is the lack of sunlight, because we haven't been to Europe during the winter for about 6 years, we aren't used to no sunlight. But it's getting better and better with each day. Axel is finally taking good naps during the day, and going to bed at a decent hour. He is going through a super clingy phase though. So he doesn't want to go to bed alone. I usually have to lay next to him for a bit before he goes to bed, and when he wakes up in the middle of the night all he wants is to be held, and will absolutely not let you put him back in bed alone. I just decided to comfort him for a bit, but then leave. He cries for a couple of minutes, then falls asleep. We tried so many other options, with no success, so we're trying this for now. Hopefully
the night wakings stop soon.

Yesterday was Johan's first day at work. He works about 5 minutes away by bus. He really likes it. Axel and I walked to a daycare across the street and asked if we could join. There isn't a lot to do here during the days, so I asked if Axel could join and I could volunteer there. We'll see if they contact us and allows to come. I also am going to join a gym that's a couple buildings down from us.

Tuesday, Feb 5: Today is Tuesday, and it snowed! Only for a bit, then the sun came out and melted the snow. We went to a meetup that the daycare recommended for us. It's free, and indoors. They had tons of toys, and there were several Belgian moms with kids Axels age. They were really nice. I met a mom whose name I can't spell. She was born here, but has Morroccan parents. She had a son Axels age. After the class, she walked with me and showed me where they have an indoor playground. We said we'd see each other at the class again on Thursday.

Wednesday, Feb 6: Axel finally slept through the night!! We decided that if he woke up, we would not go in to get him. When he woke up at 11 pm, he cried for a couple of minutes, then fell back asleep and didn't wake up until 8:30 am. Today Axel and I went exploring in the morning. I saw a road leading out of town the other day, so we followed it and found a huge forest with trails! I was just thanking God, because I was starting to get stressed out over the lack of outdoor places to play here. We are just not accustomed to staying indoors.

I went to try out a gym last night, it's a block from our apartment. I got a free one day pass and took a step aerobics class. I talked to the instructor beforehand so she knew I spoke English. Every now and then during the class she'd yell out the next exercise instructions in English for me. I was laughing at how embarrassing that was, but also because it was so nice of her.

So far, the Belgian people have been so friendly to us. There is a bar/restaurant downstairs from our apartment, and the owner gave us some delicious beer. We told him we were having trouble taking money out with our credit cards and he said "don't worry, just come here and I will loan you cash"! What an offer. We ended up being able to take out money, but that was very generous.

20 Months. Crazy Town.

I'm still scratching my head at the people who told me that going down to one nap would be a really great thing. So far, I'm not really seeing the benefits. This is how a typical day goes for us:

Waiting for his breakfast

7:00 wake up
7:10, Axel sits in his high chair and chants "grot, grot, grot" until we serve him his oatmeal.
7:30 - 8:30, Crazy town. Meaning, we play trains, legos, jump, bounce, destroy the house, whatever we can until we're bored being indoors.
8:30 We go out in the yard and ride his cars and bike.

Loves the helicopter at the zoo

9:00 Axel's bored with the yard, and I am scratching my head, wondering what we should do for the next 2 1/2 hours until he takes his nap.
9:00-11:30, Since this is the time the rest of the world is out and about (while we have been ready for at least 2 hours), we sometimes go to the park, zoo, meet friends for playdates.
11:30-1:30, Nap. This is the unfair part. He used to nap at least 4 hours per day. Since we went down to one nap, it's around 2 hours, sometimes 1 1/2 hours. That is so unfair!
1:30-5:00, Crazy town. Play, go to the park, run errands, basically moving, skipping, hopping, being active anywhere and everywhere and not stopping for a single minute.
5:00, Dinner. At least he is a good eater.
5:30, bath. He loves his bath time. He has a routine too. He runs to the bath when I say it's bath time, we take off his clothes, then he runs away wanting us to catch him. He and Johan sometimes play this for 20 minutes.
6:00 Bedtime

I do realize that while I am complaining that the naps are not long enough, he sleeps at least 12 hours per night, if not longer. It's just that I'm not yet willing to risk putting him down later with the hopes that he'll nap longer. I enjoy having a quiet house at 6:00 pm!

Dad and Axel at Mission Bay

Other than those complaints, life is really fun. It is amazing that watching a child grow really never gets old because there is something new they learn to do almost every single day. He is starting to really get good at his balance bike. He is starting to push and lift his feet up. It's an amazing idea to teach kids to ride a bike. He will never need to use training wheels, he'll just switch over to a regular bike when he's ready.

On the balance bike

I also feel like he really understands us. We can ask him to do something and he does it, understand our instructions. He has started using words more regularly, like mama, agua, grot, and woof woof (for the dog). He can point out his body parts when we say the name, and he can imitate some animal sounds like lion, dog, and cat, when we say their names. He also is understanding how to communicate what he wants with us. He doesn't say a lot of words yet, but he will pull us to where he wants us to go, point, drag objects to us, whatever it takes! He doesn't give up on getting what he wants, that's for sure.

We have also entered the pushing phase. Just today, we went to a local toddler music class, and we had to leave because he was pushing every kid that looked at him. I could even tell when he was going to do it. The funny thing is, that I will tell him that what his did was not nice, and ask him to give the kid a hug or a kiss to say I'm sorry, and he'll do it willingly. The same thing with taking objects. He'll walk up to a kid, take his toy out of his hand. I'll tell him that's not nice and to give it back, and he will. So I feel like it's not that he's mad and pushing, or he enjoys stealing and really wants their toy (I don't think, at least), but maybe it's more that he is learning that he has the power to do these things and is testing what he is allowed to do and what is not allowed? I do love the fact that he loves to give kisses, though. We have started teaching him to kiss goodnight and goodbye, and it's really cute. It just kind of freaks some kids out when he goes for a kiss on the mouth!

Biking around Mission Bay

Turnhout, Belgium

In recent events, Johan was asked to run a project at his company's office in Beerse, Belgium, but we would be staying in nearby city, Turnhout. We decided that we didn't want the family to be separated for too long, so we are all going together for 8 weeks! At first I didn't want to go. I was a bit pessimistic as to what there would be to do with a toddler in northern Europe in February. I imagined gloomy, wet, cold weather, and staying indoors. But then I realized that I just needed to change my attitude. So I recently researched some indoor playgrounds, a city park, and other kid friendly activities in the city. I also think we'll try to bring a couple of indoor activities in case we can't go outside. But I have to admit, we are not good at staying indoors. I don't think we have done that since Axel was 3 weeks old. We go outside and walk or play every single day. That's normal, right? :)

So this will definitely be a new experience for us. But we have traveled quite a bit, and we are pretty adaptable to different cultures, so I'm looking forward to these next couple of months. Now I just need to learn how to say "where's the bathroom?" in Dutch.