How to make Max smile

The morning started with a now traditional trip to a neighborhood boulangerie (булочная) for a baguette and then a breakfast, at home, of bread, eggs, cheese and ham. The bread and these eggs (huge, flavorful, deep yellow - one egg is truly a big breakfast) is something special and so far (my opinion) is the only basic food way better here than what we have back home. Cheeses and ham - not easy, but you can find. This bread and eggs - not really. Stew Leonard's and Fairway don't come close.

This time, I worked up some courage, and in addition to the baguette asked for the thing pictured here. Turns out it is a meringue (бизе) loaf with some cotton candy-like filling. Not really that good. Looks better on the picture then it tastes. Have no idea what it is called in French, but never mind anyway.

It was getting hot and we went to the plage (пляж). The beaches here are covered with pebbles but it was not crowded and the water was very very warm. Still, the beach bunnies Leon, Max and I are not. We left Irene there and headed to the city to finally get Leon a bike.

Naturally, when we got to the right bike shop, it was 12:05, which is when all French people go back home for lunch. The store was padlocked until 2. By now, hardened by long walks in Paris, the mere mile and a half under the blistering sun was nothing. After the lunch, determined to get the bike no matter what, I ran back to the shop. I was ready to pay the asking price and was happy that the asking price was quite low - 14E/day. In fact, renting the bike was the only relatively cheap thing during the trip, I think. Less than the price of a Chef Salad in your friendly bistro (tea is extra plus add like 20% in taxes). Of course it was not the bike Leon wanted - the road (racing) bikes were all rented out and all we could get is a heavy hybrid (did I mention we live on the 7th floor with such a tiny elevator it fits only a person and a baguette?). Dragging 50lb bike up the stairs brought back some well suppressed unhappy memories.

A swim in the sea restored our good moods and we happily made Max a triple-pinky-cross-my-heart-promise that tomorrow is going to be all about him and we are going to wake up bright and early and go to the end of the Earth to get him some Legos even if it involves buying raw plastic granules and manufacturing the toy ourselves on the hot pebbles.

See Max smiling in the picture? The simple and naive times where all you had to do to make child smile is to promise him some "птичка" are so over. A new dirty trick that so far works without a hitch on our open-minded boy is to use a certain keyword that trips his circuits and makes him smile uncontrollably even in the middle of the most hopeless tantrum. This certain keyword is "penis". Works especially good when whispered by the older brother in combination with any adjective or superlative. Try it at home. It is fun.