It’s official – we’re Leuven-ites!
Now, if you’re thinking that we’ve managed to navigate the famously complex red tape of the Belgian beauracracy, you couldn’t be more wrong. Of the six step process to becoming residents of the city of Leuven, we’ve stalled out on step one. Our modest hope is to receive our residence cards sometime before we move back the the US. But we won’t bore you with those details.
We’ve become Leuven-ites in the way that really matters: we have a bicycle. It seems that everyone in Leuven rides bikes – even the babies!
Max really enjoys the ride. He gets quite excited when we pull out his helmet, babbling happily and nodding his head. Getting him into the seat is another story: he’s not too fond of the shoulder straps, for example, and buttoning down his feet is a necessity he would rather do without. Once we get rolling, however, our biker babe just loves the open road.
Max’s favorite destination is a park not too far from our house. We try our best to head there every Sunday afternoon as a family. He could swing for hours if we let him. He squeals with delight and furiously kicks his little feet the entire time. Our little thrill seeker can’t seem to get enough.
The jungle gym is a bit more perplexing, and the jury’s still out concerning the slide. But we’re sure he’ll come around soon enough.
No independent steps yet, but he’s close … Soon enough we’ll be chasing him from swing to gym to slide and back again.
More to come soon…