I'm an EPIC Finalist!

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!