Ms. Mischievous

Lauren gets a report card from her pre-school every day. It's a small 3x5 card that has little circle marks on it. For example one part shows "I ate (none) (some) (all) of my lunch". Usually she gets "some" or "none" circled. It also lets us know is she took her nap, and what her mood was that day, and some of the major activities for the day.

It's the mood section that has me most intrigued. Almost every day for a while now, she comes home and her report card says "I was (mischievous) today", not happy, sad, quiet, loud, or any other possibilities, but just "mischievous".

Lauren has learned what it means to tease someone and she's gotten so independent that she doesn't obey all the instructions she's supposed to. Recently, one evening it was bedtime, and she asked me if she could have ice cream. I told her no, it was time to get ready for bed, so she scooted off, and when she came back she had a bowl of strawberry ice cream in her hand that she had fetched from the freezer herself. I was astounded and went off to the kitchen and sure enough she had removed the container from the freezer, scooped out the ice cream herself and neatly replaced the container in the freezer. Well, at least she scores points for neatness.

This morning when I dropped her off at pre-school, all the kids were in the play ground playing, and as I left, the teacher rang the bell, the signal for all the kids to line up and get counted off to go inside for the start of the day. Lauren was on one of the play structures, and I could hear distantly her teacher asking her to line up. I also heard her reply, "No, I want to play some more". As I drove away, I could see Lauren still defiant standing in the play structure. I'm sure I'm getting another "mischievous" report today.