The Moment of Decision

Silence can sometimes send my mom radar into "catastrophe in progress" mode.  Jackson and Tucker had been playing with blocks together building towers, knocking them down, and rebuilding.  They were having so much fun that when I didn't hear their delightful giggles anymore, I knew something was in progress.  The mom radar was in high gear and accurate.  The giggles had been replaced with hearing Tucker eating something and Jackson saying, "MMMmmmmmmm!"

They had moved on from the blocks.  The blocks were old news since they'd found my purse.  The floor, which had once been covered with blocks was now covered with the former contents of my purse.  As they turned to see me observing them, you could see the look of, "Oh no!  She found us!" I had a desicion to make -- do I address what is on the floor first or what is on their faces first!  I took a moment to gather my thoughts, and asked Jackson if I could take his picture, which you see above.  As you can see, Jackson's mouth was lavished with my Burt's Bees Cocoa Lip Shimmer.  They had twisted the entire stick out, eaten some, worn some, and were having a big time.  It was peppermint flavored, which they both LOVE.  So, they were in deep.

 And so the conversation began, "Hey guys, tell me what we're up to."  Jackson stood frozen in time holding in his hand the dilapidated lip shimmer.  He was now faced with the decision -- to lie or not to lie.  He looked at the pitiful lip shimmer, pondered, then looked back at me.  True to Jackson's 4 and a half years of life history, he very thoughtfully pondered with three to four second blinks.  After a few deep breaths, deep blinks, and good moments soul searching he finally spoke.

"Mom, I messed up your this thing. And, I shared it with Tucker.  And, we just did it all.  I'm real sorry.  It's all my fault.  And, I'm just super duper sorry. (SIGH)", he came clean.  "Do I need to go to time out? What do I need to do?  Am I in trouble?", he asked.  While he waited to hear his fate, I was internally SO PSYCHED!  He'd chosen to lean in to the uncomfortable reality instead of running away and making things worse.  When I told him that I was proud of him for choosing to do right, his brown eyeballs about exploded with pride and his precious, little face lit up!  He flipped himself around to Tucker and said, "I did what was RIGHT, Tucker!  I did it!  I really did it!  Come on, let's pick all this up and put it back!"  Their sweet munchkin hands stuffed everything (including some blocks) back in my purse, and we had some fruit and whipped cream to celebrate Jackson's good choice.  Tucker asked for some more lip shimmer to eat, but we had already "retired" that over-worked lip shimmer.