I'm an EPIC Finalist!

Monday, September 26, 2011
I was cruising the internet yesterday, and came across the Electronic Publishing Internet Coalition's (EPIC) website, where I discovered a happy little surprise. My story HOT COMMODITY, is a finalist in their 2012 Ebook Awards Contest, in the Contemporary Romance division. I was so happy, I danced all around the house with Lydia, which she loved, grinning and screaming with laughter as we whirled this way and that. The hubby's only response to the whole thing was, "You're going to hurt your back if you keep dancing around with her like that." Which I didn't (ha!). I hurt my knee.

In other areas of my life, I had my first in-depth conversation with my daughter this weekend. I was pushing her in her new-old swing and this tractor chugged to life across our field over at the neighbor's place. Lydia and I looked at each other and I gasped. "What's that?"

She turned to squint across the way until she finally saw movement. Then her eyes lit up and she pointed. "Car!" she proudly proclaimed.

"No," I said. "That's a tractor."

"Car," she repeated.

"No, no. It's really a tractor. See, cars have four wheels and...and, well, okay. So do tractors, but--"

"Car, car," she argued.

With a sigh, I gave in. "Okay. Fine. A tractor is a kind of car, I guess."

She nodded, most wisely. "Car."

This morning, we had another heart to heart. I knocked a bottle of baby lotion off the side of the bathroom sink.

Lydia gasped, "Uh oh," and rushed over to swipe it up. She looked up at me and accused, "Broke it."

I might have been a little defensive when I responded, "I did not."

So I'd say we're getting better at our communications skills. Outside is still pronounced "Owie," and so is the boo-boo on her knee. But you can tell which owie she means. If she brings you shoes and points toward the door, she means the outside owie. If she points to her knee, she means the boo-boo owie. Obviously.

Her newest words of the week are dirty, which is what the trash can is. And spider, pronounced "Pide-er."

And the kid has learned one very talented skill from me. After playing on the swing set and having our car/tractor conversation, she spotted a dead grasshopper on the sidewalk. When she spotted it, she paused to inspect it a moment before stomping on it with her shoe, 'cause that's exactly what Mommy does when she sees bugs and spiders. I was so proud I had to wipe a tear from my eye. That's my special girl.

Happy Monday to all!

11 comments:

  1. Fanastic!!! I am going to have to buy a copy of Hot Commodity to read.

    My babies called a Tractor a "Tractie". I miss that age! She is beautiful!

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  2. Tackie, that's so cute! Hot Commodity actually goes with Delinquent Daddy...if you were curious!

    Thanks for stopping by, Tracy.

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  3. Many congratulations on being an Eppic finalist, Linda, and on producing such a cute (and intelligent) wee girl of course!

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  4. Awesome news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Congrats!!

    Your daughter is SOOO cute too!

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  5. Oh what a cutie! :)

    Congrats on being an Eppic finalist. :)

    Amber

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  6. That is one cute kid. I love your heart-to-hearts! Congrats on your EPIC nomination!!! I love those moments when we dance around with our daughters over good news! (Mine loves it when I get a good review!)

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  7. She's growing up Mama! Look at the cheesy grin:)

    Congrats on being a finalist!!!

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  8. So excited for you and what a little cutie!!! :O)

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  9. Lydia is so adorable.... My little sister, Maya who is 2 and a half, loves crickets for some strange reason and hates all other bugs so every time she sees a cricket she calls it Annie because about 3 months ago I came across a cricket and we named it Annie and it stuck so everytime we see crickets I have to pick it up for her to hold.

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  10. Thank you, Romy, Jennifer, Amber, Ashley, Molly, Diane and Courtney!!

    Thanks for putting up with me as I keep posting pictures of my kid. I just can't seem to stop!

    Love the cricket-naming story, Courtney!

    Linda Kage

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  11. I obviously can't comment from work because they are constantly disappearing on me. I want to say congrats! You totally deserve it.

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