The List

First thing Sunday morning I sat down next to Princess, whipped out a piece of paper and my trusty brown crayon and said, "So. What kind of day are you planning?" Confused, she said, "good?" I said, "sounds interesting," and wrote:

"How to Have a Good Day."

"So. How do you plan to do that?"
"Be nice."
"What does that mean? What do you have to do to 'be nice?'"
"Not yell?"
"Well, that's something to not do. Now think of something to do."
"Do what you say."
"AHHHHHHH! 'Obey Mom" (I write), what a great way to start having a good day! Obey Mom!"

So after a surprisingly minimal amount of prompting, this was the List:

How to Have a Good Day
1. Obey Mom
2. Speak kindly
3. Treat others kindly

Pretty comprehensive. Pretty basic.
And she did it. She had a really good day. She had a really good day to the point that it was kind of creepy, because whenever I corrected her or asked her to do something she said "Ok Mom," and did it. As opposed to the typical response as of late of "WHAT!!!! I DON'T WAAAAAAANT TO, YOU STUPID UGLY MOM!!!" At bedtime I congratulated her on making a good day, and she said, "I can't stop smiling!" Refreshing change. In a Stepford Child kind of way.

Luckily, I did not have to remain creeped out for long, because this morning Princess got up while I was in the shower and took the unsupervised opportunity to break School Day Princess Rule #1 and woke up her sisters getting out the clothing that she was supposed to get out last night before bed but didn't. I sent her back to bed so her brain could get enough rest to remember the rules. See above for her response.

After ten minutes I sat on her bed with the list. "What kind of day are you having so far, Princess?"
"Good?"
"Really? Laying on your bed in the dark is good? Interesting."
"Bad."
"Oh? Let's find out why. (Holding up list) how many of these have you done so far?"
"None."
"Hmmm. Is this working for you?"
"No."
"Oh. What can you do to make it work for you?"
"Obey Mom. Speak kind. Act kind."
"Interesting. Go try it."

You can tell this was ground-breaking and successful and that I am a fabulous mother because after breakfast she sat down with a book that is too hard for her and made fun of Peanut's reading (because Peanut is catching up to Princess fast, and don't think for one second that Princess hasn't noticed), then told Peanut that Peanut couldn't use Princess's library book because the librarian said they couldn't let "little kids" use the books. And when I foolishly pointed out that the book with the now sadly crumpled cover that she was looking at belonged to her brother and suggested that she learn to treat borrowed materials nicely before trying to teach someone else, causing her brother to freak at her, it was all over.

It all makes me start to wonder if she has good days to taunt me. But that couldn't possibly be. Could it?