Bad memory vs Good memory

Ok, so I was mean to Ella the other day. I admit it. She had gotten into our cupboard with snacks in it to get a little something to eat. In the process, she spilled an entire box of noodles on the floor. She then grabbed a snack and said "do you want to play Clifford with me on the computer?" I told her "No because I have to clean up the mess you just made." Probably not the nicest response, huh? Later on that night I told her I was sorry for yelling at her. She said (and no, I'm not making this up) "It's ok, Mommy, you're just stressed. I still love you." Sweetest.kid.ever.

So, I decided to replace that bad memory with a good memory. I decided it was going to be Ella/Mommy Girly Night. We went upstairs and shut ourselves in the bathroom. We lit some candles and painted our toes. Ella chose pink for her right foot and red for the left (she's an equal opportunity polisher). Then I busted out some face paint that I just bought. Ella's been having a little bit of trouble with dreams about monsters. I wouldn't really call them nightmares because she says the monsters aren't really that scary but she doesn't really want to dream about them either. I told her to tell me what the monster looked like. As she told me, I painted the monster on her cheek. She looked in the mirror and confirmed that yes, that is what her monster looks like. I then told her that the monster was now out of her head and free to roam about the country so he wouldn't need to come into her dreams anymore. She seemed to accept this and then wanted me to draw a flower. I drew a flower on her other cheek and then she told me she wanted me to draw a green stem from the flower to the monster. I drew a green line from the flower, under her chin, and over under the monster. She told me that even monsters needed flowers.