7/24/08

Maman

During the month of July Jaylee went to her new school on Tuesdays and Thursday. She was going stir crazy with me and everyday asked me, "how do you say that in French?" To which I replied, "I don't know." I have said "I don't know" so many times in the past couple of months that Jaylee actually started singing a song at the bus stop with every tone and rhythm of "I don't know". No others words included in the song. So off to school she went.

Well, yesterday was her last day until September. On the way home I asked her if she liked mommy picking her up from school in the car like in Texas or if she liked walking here in France better.
"Texas. You could just relax and rest in that car. Here I walk too much."
So there you have it. All this time I thought these walks were so good. Talking and casually walking home instead of me driving and cursing at other people while talking on the phone and handing even more food over my shoulder to keep her quiet. She liked my bad parenting skills.
So after this moment of clarity I tell her we have to stop by the store.

I have to give you a bit of background first. When I pick Jaylee up from school her little mind is whirling with different languages. There is every nationality and country represented at her school. When school is finished the rest of the day she talks with the cutest accent and more and more French words flow out of her mouth. Of course I'm not sure what they all mean, but I do recognize that they are French. Well, as we are walking through the store every reply is "d'accord maman" (which sounds like (da ca) and means okay mom. Then every other reply is "Oui moi cheri", which is yes my darling. It is very funny, mixed in with what sounds like French tourettes syndrome from a 4 year old. The French language is very expressive and spoken very assertively, which Jaylee is mimicking very well. So the best happens when Jaylee points to the milk and very slowly and bluntly says, "you want?". Like I can't understand her!@# She has heard so many people dummy down to communicate with me that now she feels like it is her duty as well. Lord help me when she can out speak me, which should be in about a weeks time.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

On the positive side you will be well prepared for the teenage years when you become really stupid.

Toujours,

Carol