Doing Something Right...

DD came home not quite as chatty about school today.. She wasn't unhappy and answered all the inquiries appropriately..
But something was off..
I held up my end of the bargain (she made a couple of 'A's so we went to the local Chinese restaurant).. And while she wasn't unhappy, she still wasn't quite herself.. After assuring nothing drastic had happened to her at school, I wrote it off to just having a bad day..
Got home, did homework, things were good.. She has a couple of 'quizzes' tomorrow so we studied for them.. Wanna know the four types of sentences or the particulars on 'Because of Winn Dixie'? I'm your girl!!
Well, one part of this is her with her notes in her room, alone, studying
When I go in to do practice tests with her, she looks at me and says 'I have to talk with you.' She closes her books, puts them aside, folds her hands and stares at them.. So, I ask what she wants to talk about? She stammers and stutters.. I ask again.. She looks up with huge tears in her eyes and says, 'I don't want to disappoint you.' I assure her than she can tell me anything.. Then she starts boohooing and the story starts rolling out.. If I wanted to, I couldn't type all that she said..
The gist is that she grabbed the wrong spelling homework, then couldn't go back for the right one because the bus was there and they had to board.. So, while at the sitters, she thought it might be best to erase that particular homework from the assignment notebook so I wouldn't know.. Then, she would do it quickly first thing in the morning so she didn't get a late note and write it back down into the notebook before showing the notebook to the teacher.. But, she said that her 'heart was sad and (her) head said to tell me' Then she started boohooing again.. She apologized a million times.. She said that she would ground herself by not going to a certain event.. (One I knew she was crazy to go to) And she hoped I would forgive her..
Way before she got around to asking for forgiveness, I had.. I was proud that (1) she owned up to the subterfuge and (2) devised a way to get the work done, thus avoiding the dreaded late note..
When I told her that I didn't think grounding was necessary, that learning the lesson about lying was the best thing I could ask for in this situation, she was seriously confused. I had to explain.. I was disappointed that she didn't bring the right homework but would have been more disappointed had she not come clean to me about it all..
She promised me that she would get it done and turned in on time.. That she would never lie to me again.. ((Okay, I'm not naive. She'll lie later. And she'll get caught. Like all unpracticed liars do..))
Then there were more hugs and tears.. She looked sooo sad I started to feel sorry for her..
So, rather than hurry to do it while the teacher calls roll, I will walk her down to her class 30 minutes before school begins (they can't go alone, but can with a parent) so she can get the right homework and then do it in the gym before school starts..
I think I might be doing something right..
Or I might be the world's biggest sap.. :):)