One of Booty's rituals in Bintan was feeding the KOI. The concierge was very kind and always gave us fish food.

"You have to let me work Dada!"
Give some body a job and she will be content. Tho' there are times...
"I'm helping you mama!!!" When actually, um, she isn't. She is just dumping the bowl of eggs and creating a mess.
"Oh wow!" I have trained myself to say, "You really want to do it."
"How about we clean this up and try again?"
"Do over!" She cries. Just like I do when I make a mistake, or yell. We go back and try it again.

And then the negotiations.
"If you finish your egg you can have more toast."
"If you eat your breakfast you can have more juice."

I have begun to notice the number of negotiations that go down every day. And now I am calling a memorandum. She is only 2. And not a lawyer or mediator. Yet.
Using less words. And more gestures.

Instead of reading to the girl every naptime and pre-bedtime I have been telling stories with her wooden animals. It is absolutely magic. After a couple of weeks of doing this she is more independent in the morning when she wakes up, often re-telling the story with the animals herself. Or when I am taking a shower or busy on the phone. And most of the time she prefers told stories to books. In my stories there is always a song. And she digs this.