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Prompt: Japril dealing with the terrible two's

Three Little Swimmers

One

Twenty minutes chasing a toddler was not high on his priority list. Twenty minutes hot and sweaty with his wife? Absolutely. Twenty minutes at the gym? Why not. Twenty minutes for a consult? Sure thing. But definitely not chasing a two-year old who doesn't want to go to bed. "Joelle, get back here!"

"I big girl! Big girls no bed!" She runs through the halls of their spacious home, her mother's t-shirt hanging off her tiny shoulders.

"Yes, big girls do go to bed. It's babies who don't listen," Jackson tries for the fifth time. When he finally catches up to her she lets out a loud screech.

"No, no, no!" Then the kicking and hitting. Then the tears. Then the small little sniffles. "I want mama."

"I know baby, I know." Jackson looks from the shirt his daughter wears to the braid she made him put in her hair to the room she finally let him catch her in. "She'll be home in a few days Jo-Jo Bean."

"Promise?" Joelle whispers, her eyes watering greatly.

"I promise." Jackson sits her on his and April's king-size bed. "Want to sleep in here tonight?"

Two

"Amen," April murmurs the words, her eyes closed and hands firmly clasped together, as the mid-sermon prayer concludes. To her left is Katerina, Jackson and Joelle and to her right is Evan.

"Momma," Evan speaks with a tap to her shoulder. "Momma." Louder this time.

"EJ, this is not the time to talk," April whispers as she makes a slight shushing movement with her finger.

"But-"

"No buts, it's quiet time." She hasn't set many specific rules for her children and neither has Jackson; they want their children to feel at liberty to explore without constantly being reprimanded, however they have set a few. No hurting themselves or others. Family first. And the parental favorite: quiet time. Voices off or the quiet game or eyes and ears only. It's enough to get the little ones' attentions without causing a scene. Church is one of those times. After church, questions can be asked and games can be played but during church, listening ears are used.

Crossing his chubby arms and jutting his chin in the air, Evan huffs loudly. "Me mad at you." April brings her finger to her lips once more, her eyes a warning. "Me's very mad at you. You knows it. Me knows it. Dada knows it."

"Evan James!" April turns to her son. "You stop that right now. We have ten more minutes to go."

"Me can't wait," Evan turns back to the sermon. "Me big mad!" Every face in the crowded church turns to look at the startled family of five. "You mad?" He looks to his mother.

April simply nods. "Yes, Evan. I'm very mad."

Three

"Booboo Mommy," Katerina sobs as she points to her tiny gold fish. "Booboo!" April turns to see the fish on it's side, floating to the top of the bowl.

"Oh sweetie." She knew winning the fish at the fair was a bad idea. Now she was going to have to explain to her sweet little girl that her new friend was dead. "He does have a booboo…a very bad booboo."

"Make him better Mommy. Please." The tears stream down her face as she clutches her tattered waffle blanket.

"I can't make him better Kit-Kat. He's very sick."

"You doctor." April pulls the toddler into her arms, wrapping her in her protective embrace.

"I'm a people doctor."

"Not fishies?"

"No, not fishies," April nods, rubbing her hand soothingly over her daughter's silky tresses.

"Then we needs fishie doctor," Katerina says quite seriously, turning to meet her mother's gaze.

"Honey, that won't work."

"Whys not?" She pops her thumb in her mouth and April's heart breaks at the sight.

"Well sometimes when God gets lonely and needs someone to keep him company, he takes them up to heaven with him," she tries to give the barest definition of death she can muster.

"Fishie in heaven?" Cat cocks her head to the side, contemplating her mother's words.

"Yes, he's there now."

"So whys booboo?"

This was going to be harder than she thought. "You see, God only takes spirits, what's inside of the body. He doesn't need to take your fish's body." At the blank stare April continues. "God only needs the inside, not the outside. He loves you for what's inside."

"Oh, I gets it." She smiles. "Just like I only like the inside of Oreos and not thems outsides. God's like me!" And with that, Katerina skips off to share her newly acquired information with her older sister, leaving April laughing in her wake.

Four

"Finally."

"Longest day ever," April groans as she lays down on the bed next to Jackson.

"Night," he leans over to kiss her lips, stroking her cheek gently as he does so.

"Night." They lean over their respective sides to shut off the lamps before getting comfortable under the blankets. "And Jackson?"

"Hmm?"

"If your little swimmers come near me again, I'll personally snip you."