French schools are currently out for a two-week winter break, I guess. So there are mobs of kids on the streets, in groups at the museums, playing in the parks, roller skating and riding their scooters on the sidewalks. They look like they are all having a great time.Last week—the first week of the vacation—I noticed something missing in the mornings. There’s a little boy (2 years old?) who is dropped off around 9 by his motorcycle-driving dad (often carries a helmet so I must assume) at his babysitter’s apartment in the building. I hear his giggles and chattering (even three floors up) when they enter the hallway and he stands on his tiptoes to reach as far as he can to hit the buzzer for the babysitter's apartment. (I still can’t tell if he’s able to reach it or if his dad helps him.) She then buzzes them both into the courtyard. He bolts through the door when his dad pushes it open and sometimes hides behind the big potted tree in the courtyard’s center while the lady comes out of her apartment. She sometimes pretends like she can’t find him and then happily greets them both. He is always so excited to see her and she him. At first I thought it was his grandmother but the other day, I noticed the man shake her hand. If she was a relative, they’d do the bise-bise (a kiss on each cheek). Even the old man in an apartment across the way from me throws open his window and leans out to witness the daily ritual.
I’m really going to miss the little fellow. He wasn’t around last week (maybe one of his parents is a teacher and they took a little holiday?) but he is back now. I met him and the babysitter going to the park late yesterday afternoon. They, of course, have no idea who I am—a crazy lady with the wild hair (as my daughter would say) snapping photos of this delightful slice of life in the mornings.
In the meantime, it reminds me that I can’t wait to see Karlee (and Trish) when they visit me on the 22nd. That, right now, is the only reason I have any desire to leave Paris. Here’s a photo of Karlee wearing her mother’s shoes—since she’s dressed all in pink, she must wear shoes to match.
