Is my child clean?

That was one of the questions on the 50 page application for Andrew's "creche", aka daycare. EVERYTHING in France is complicated, and requires endless amounts of paperwork. (I'm still working on getting a replacement health insurance card after losing it in June...and each time I sent in the requested documentation, I receive another letter in the mail requesting something else). Robert is convinced that the inefficiency of French systems is entirely intentional and designed to create as many jobs as possible! It is a true fact that 25% of the French population work for the government. Anyway, so I'm filling out this daycare form and I come across the question: "Votre enfant est-il propre?" or something to that effect...which translates directly to "Is your child clean". If you look up "propre" in the French-English dictionary, you will find the word "clean". At the time, I thought it was a bit of an odd question, but not the first time I've come across something odd in France, so I checked off the "Oui" (Yes) box...there was room for comments on every line so I added (in French) "except at mealtime" as he is still a rather messy eater and definitely requires a bib. But I'm thinkin in my head, "of course my boy is clean, we have baths and showers all the time". Well, it wasn't until yesterday when I was discussing potty training with some friends in the babygroup and one of my French friends asked me if Andrew was "propre". It clicked. Andrew is indeed NOT propre, aka potty-trained!!! I bet the directrice at the daycare got a good kick out of my answer, or perhaps she did not understand my answer at all. Makes me wonder how many other such mistakes I've made since I moved to France!
Funnily enough, Andrew had a similar communication barrier with the babysitter today. She was telling me how well he had eaten, and advised that when he had finished his plate, he said "encore", which the babysitter interpreted to mean he wanted more. I am quite certain that what he really said was "ah gah" (all gone), in other words, he was done!