Most of my recent posts have had to do with my two-year-old, who has been in an especially uncooperative mood recently. For at least the last week, nearly every suggestion I have made to her has resulted in her giving me the evil eye and screaming “NO! DAT’S GIS-GUSTING!” It’s been old since the first time she said it.

So you can imagine my surprise — and my joy — when, while we were playing horses a few nights ago, she actually agreed  to do something I asked her to do.

The conversation went like this:

Me (in a falsetto): Neeeiiiggh, baby horsie! It’s time to get yer PJ’s on, neigh, neigh!
Her: Neeeiiiggh, mama horsie, OK, neigh, neigh!

And then she lay down on the floor and let me put her pajamas on… including the pants!

It was miraculous. The rest of our interactions that night went beautifully. She neighed and galloped cheerfully up to bed. The next morning, she ate her horsie breakfast without complaint. She didn’t run away — not once! — when I was dressing her in her horsie shirt and her horsie pants and her horsie socks and shoes. She even let me brush her horsie mane of hair. I was overjoyed.

The only downside, of course, is that I have had to assume my horsie persona in all of my interactions with her.  Which means that when we were checking out at the Target yesterday and she started climbing out of the cart, I broke out my falsetto and loudly said, “NEIGH, NEIGH baby horsie! Get back in that cart, NEIGH, NEIGH.”

Oh yes I did. And it was totally worth it.