Little Rat

Here's what remains of my poor little mouse crystal.  This little mouse is the first swarovski crystal that I've ever owned.  My dad picked it out for me when I was probably about 10 years old.  I have collected them ever since.  I use that term loosely, since I've only collected about six and the last one I purchased seven years ago on my honeymoon.  Anyways, my Dad's nickname for me has always been "little rat" so he picked out this mouse for me.

My mom came over this week and was doing some cleaning for me (THANK YOU MOM).  She was dusting my crystals and apparently the mouse's ear fell off!  Oh well, I'll have to fix it later with some super glue.  When she told me after I got home (the big boys and I were meeting their teachers) C & B wanted to see what Mimi broke.  I showed them my mouse and it's little ear and said I'd fix it soon.  I normally have the crystals way up high on a shelf in my room, but put the little mouse back on top of my dresser to fix later.

Chandler has his "quiet time" in my bedroom and so he did that day just like any other day.  We had a birthday party that afternoon once everybody got up from their naps.  When we got home and were having dinner, Chandler said, "I have something to tell you, but I can't tell you, because you'll be mad."  Of course that perked my interest.  Chandler kept saying over and over that he needed to tell me something, but couldn't because I'd be mad.  This was making both Derek and I upset because we wanted him to just tell us his secret, but he wouldn't.

Using my "momsense" I knew that he must have broken/ruined something of mine because why else would he think I would be upset with him?  I asked him if he broke something in my room and when he wouldn't answer, I knew I was on to it.  I told him that if I went in my room and found something broken I would be more upset than if he came and told me what happened right now.  He told me he broke my mouse!

Apparently he picked up the mouse during his quiet time and somehow he broke off the tail. Now my mouse is missing an ear and a tail!  Poor thing!  He had carefully put the tail right next to the mouse so it wouldn't be so obvious.  I know Chandler felt bad about it, but I tried not to make him feel worse to encourage that it's better to tell the truth than to try and cover something up.

This was definitely a first experience for us and I hope that next time Derek and I can encourage the truth (rather than demand it, which did not work, FYI).  I want my children to always feel like they can tell me anything even if I will be "mad" about it.  This is going to take some work, I think.....