You go girl

So Funny.  I tell you.  Living in a whole new world here.  I took EIGHT years of Spanish yet we choose to live in France.  I digress.  

We named my darling daughter right out of the womb.  We named her Alexandra Rae.  What a wonderful name we thought.  We loved Alexandra because it wasn't in the top names for 2004 and we just loved it.  We decided on her middle name because it is Troy's father's name.  Then gave it a feminine twist, Ray turned into  Rae.  We knew we would shorten her name, we would give her a nickname.  I always wanted to call her Allie.  So we did and we do.

Now, present day.  I have an almost four year old only knowing quiet suburban streets.  I move her to the big city.  All the things she used to do to explore the suburban streets come in to question and is chastised here in Paris.  No, Allie don't pick up that dirt clod, it is poop.  No, Allie, don't pick up the feather that the icky scrap eating pigeon just left.  No, Allie don't go in to that tree well to climb it, that is where the dogs go poop.  She has had to learn all sorts of city living.  In the meantime,  I just constantly yell her name.  "Allie, Allie, Allie, Allie"  NO NO NO NO.  Stop Allie, Stop Allie the light is red, look for the L'homme vert to cross the street.  She has probably heard here name more in the past two months than ever.  All the while I yell her name in the city streets of Paris I get looks.  I didn't understand the looks at first.  I chalked it up to me being an American mom and concerned for child. Maybe yelling a bit to loud for fear that she might touch some poop or get run over by the constant traffic.  I received a lot of looks directed at me when I yelled her name.  It wasn't until one man indignatly looked at me and started to hustle away from me when I yelled, "Allie, Allie", that I decided to look in to it.  He gave me such a look that something was off as he picked up the pace a ran from me.

The kicker is, are you ready....Allie is my daughter's name.  "Aller" in French means to go.  If you say Allie in such a french accent type way it is a command ...Go Go Go Hurry Hurry.  That last man was so irritated with me for telling him to hurry when I was actually telling my daughter to stop picking up sticks with pigeon poop on it.  How funny is that.  I asked a French friend and sure enough the French think I am using "Allie" as a command to hurry up.

I have now been teaching Allie her true first name, Alexandra.  It makes life a bit more bearable for all involved.