CTR

As I tried to buckle Kaige into his car seat after we left Deseret Book store, I find Kaige had items in his hands that I hadn't paid for.  Are you kidding me?!?  How ironic is it that the first time my kid steals it's from the church book store?  As I asked him about it and told him we must go and take it back I realize that its a CTR ring, and a CTR bracelet.  CTR stands for Choose The Right.  If there can be anything funny about stealing, CTR merchandise has got to be it.  We went back into the store, and he went right back to the displays and put them where they belong.  I then told him, thank you but we still need to say I'm sorry.  He didn't want any of that.  I told him he would have to sit on my lap and we would stay there until he could apologize.  It took a long while, and a lot of coaxing.  After I lifted him up to stand in front of the worker he finally spit out an apology.  As soon as we got out the door he burst into tears.  He cried the whole way from the store to my work.  At least 15 minutes.  I tried to find out if he was crying because he didn't have the stuff or crying because he felt bad.  He was too beside himself to communicate.  When we stopped at work, he said.  I'm sorry mommy.  Ohhh melt my heart! I'm sorry too.  I don't think he really knew what he was doing.  He never tried to sneak it, but I think he knows much better now what stealing is.  I hope as painful as it was, that it truly was a learning lesson.