One of the best parts about buying Star Wars toys for our son is watching things break apart. And not just the things that are supposed to break, but the things you least expect! I'm sure there's a blog in there somewhere for the drawer of spare parts he has in his bedroom, but I'll save that for another day. Tonight, it's time to blog about his new Lego Tie Interceptor.

This is not the fault of the toy or the Legos themselves... this one is all on Mommy. I admit, I am a clod who can't seem to manuever Legos properly! It may also be a byproduct of some performance related tendonitis that my fingers don't seem to work well for finite motor skills - like those needed to piece together those little transparent "lights" that are on all the Lego SW ships. Forget it - I can barely manage it!

So today, my husband brought home the Lego TIE Interceptor kit. Awesome. The Padawan is beside himself, jumping up and down, can barely contain his excitement as he watches Daddy piece this thing together. Finally the ship complete, the 4-year-old now has a TIE Interceptor - the ultimate TIE fighter in his opinion. Of course it's Lego, so that means you have to be gentle with it. Ok, the Padawan understands this concept, but what about Mommy?

Um..... well..... whistles innocently, turning her eyes skyward, kicks at a stone on the ground....

I finally get a chance to get a close look at this ship and I notice there is a little guy inside the cockpit. Is it a mini-Darth Vader? Is it a TIE-pilot? Who is it? I MUST find out. So, I procede to "lift" the windshield on it's little tiny Lego hinge and rip it off.

Ok.... no problem, I'll just snap it back into place.... As I'm applying what I think it minimal pressure to snap this back on, I manage to push off the top hatch of the cockpit. Hey! Look! It is a tiny TIE-pilot! Wow! But, no time to waste, the Padawan is pacing and asking when I'll be done fixing his TIE. I'm working on it!!

Now I'm putting the windshield and the top hatch back together, that works just fine, now time to gently gently gently press it all back into place and......BAM! I smash the whole thing down into the cockpit, knocking the little pilot right out along with his control panel. Now the padawan is in a full panic - his little forehead dotted with sweat. "Mommy, Daddy can fix it when he gets home."

"No! I can do it!" I tell the little punk. Ok, pilot is back in, control panel secure, start to piece the windshield and top hatch back together which of course are back in pieces. This time, there's something new that also fell off. What the heck is this? I can't even describe this piece and I'm not even sure where it goes, but deductive reasoning tells me it belongs on the back of the cockpit so I try to put it on along with everything else.

I'm sure everyone's had this "snowball" effect when either putting together or "fixing" their Lego models, but you truly haven't lived until you have a panicked 4-year-old dancing around you demanding you to hurry up and quit breaking his toy!

Finally, after about 10 minutes of messing around with these little parts, I finally get it all back together. Carefully I start to hand it to the Padawan. "Be careful, Mommy just fixed it," I tell him. "I am very careful with it Mommy. I won't break it like you did." HA! I just got dissed by my own offspring.

It was decided by both of us the safest place for the Lego TIE Interceptor was on top of his toy chest where he could see it from his bed - but more importantly he could keep his eyes out for his bumbling mother and prevent her from reconfiguring it yet again!!