Serendipity Strikes

40

Emmaline

I stood at the large window in my apartment and gazed upon my favorite city. Toronto looked like a giant snow globe that had just been vigorously shaken up and I loved it.

"Good thing we've got plenty of food,"
Shawn said as he wrapped his strong arms around me from behind. "We might be stuck inside for a few days."

I turned around and smiled up at him. "I can think of worse things. We've got the tree to decorate, Christmas cookies to bake, and each other. I wouldn't mind if we were trapped here for a week."

"You might get your wish. The forecast is pretty bad, possibly 24 inches. The drifts could be 4 feet tall. They've already labeled it the storm of the decade."

Jax had been playing with a dinosaur puzzle, but hearing us talk about the snow got his interest. He ran over and grabbed onto Shawn's legs.

"Owside! Pease! Go owside Shawn."

"Don't worry, buddy. I'm going to take you outside as soon as it stops snowing. We're going to the park to build the biggest snowman ever."

"Now!" Jax said with the stamp of a foot.

My patient boyfriend let go of me and squatted in front of the demanding but adorable little tyrant.

"Not now, Jax. It's dangerous out there and it's going to be dark soon. Why don't we read The Snowy Day. I love that book. Can you go find it?"

Jax scrunched up his face and stomped off.

"See? He just needed to be reasoned with," Shawn said as he stood up and put an arm around my shoulder. "I've got this toddler stuff down."

A minute later, Jax returned with his snow boots. He threw them at the purported child expert, hitting Shawn squarely in the legs.

"Owside now!" he yelled, but before we could recover from our shock he added, "Pease?"

"Jaxon Shawn Radley," I scolded, "you do not throw things!"

"That hurt like hell," Shawn muttered as he rubbed his shins.

"See?" I said. "You hurt Shawn. What do we say when we hurt someone?"

"Sowwy."

"That's right. Now you have 2 minutes in the time out chair. When your time is up, we're going to read a book."

Jax's bottom lip started to quiver. "I sowwy Mama. I sowwy Shawn. Jax Sowwy."

I pulled him in for a hug. "I know you are, but you are still going to time out."

Then I walked him over to the chair we'd set up for this purpose. I grabbed my phone off the coffee table, set a timer for 2 minutes, and left before his sad face could change my mind. In the kitchen, I took out the butter to soften for the sugar cookies I was making tomorrow.

"I hate it when he gets put in baby jail," Shawn whispered so that Jax wouldn't hear him.

"So do I, but it works. He's always very well behaved afterwards."