Most of my days end up in sheer exhaustion, as juggling a dynamo of a toddler, a day job, and my writing career, leave me drained.
And most of the days all of these can be rather thankless. For example, my sales have been pretty meh this month, especially compared with last December’s. And I recently had a particularly bad collaboration with an abusive client. All of which has left me exhausted.
So, when I had a few welcome surprises lately, I decided to share with you in the hopes that they will cheer you up when it looks like nothing’s moving in the right direction!
We Love Kleidi
Mary Natalie arranged her stuffed toys around the grey Hippodonkey and put pegs on all their noses. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Hippodonkey had beans last night and he’s been farting a lot,” she explained…
First of all, Mary Natalie, who was even naughtier than usual when she came home from school yesterday. She threw tantrum after tantrum and left both her mother and me utterly exhausted. Figuring out something must have happened at school, I kept prodding her to find out what.
Here is our dialogue:
“Kleidi keeps hugging me,” she complained.
In case you’re wondering, Kleidi is a lovely boy from preschool. “Don’t you want him to?”
“Yes.”
“Are you worried he might prefer Athena or Anelia [her frenemies] instead of you?”
“No!” She waved at me dismissively. “He’s mine.”
Poor Kleidi, I wonder if you even know it, I thought, but said nothing. “Then what’s the problem?”
“But I love you, Daddy!”
I had to chuckle at this. As it turns out, not only does my 3year-old have her first crush but she was highly stressed because she was afraid of hurting my feelings when I found out! I gave her a bear hug and explained that it’s perfectly okay to love other boys as well and that I like Kleidi–which I genuinely do. In fact, he’s one of the loveliest boys I’ve ever seen, so now I know she has good taste in boys. “So, we love Kleidi,” I ended up saying. “But if you don’t want him to hug you, just tell him so. And if he insists, tell your teacher.”
“We love Kleidi,” she agreed and ran to bed–where, for the first time in ages, she wanted to cuddle with me instead of her mom, and asked me to read her a story.
Valiant Smile Gets Recognized
The second surprise had to do with Valiant Smile, the third book in my children’s books series, Mystery Smiles, and the first one to be published in Greece by Patakis Publishers. A friend notified me that she had seen it listed among a selection of the “12 best books for Christmas for kids and teens” published by the newspaper Proto Thema.
Also, it was listed among Greece’s best books you can buy this Christmas as selected by the prestigious Talk Magazine!
I can’t wait for Dimitris to finish the English version so that I can finally make it available on Amazon!
Istomedia Wins Award
You know me as an author, but my day job is that of web designer and Internet marketer. So, it was a wonderful surprise to find out a couple of days ago that Bark awarded my company, Istomedia, with its prestigious Certificate of Excellence award!
This is a great honor and I promise to do my best to keep up the good work!
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Great news all round, Nicholas. Congratulations! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours. 🙂 — Suzanne
Thank you so much for the always sweet comments, Suzanne! May your Christmas be magical 🙂
Oh my, girls and their dads. 😀
And my wife’s called Electra. All we need now is a little brother called Oedipus. Merry Christmas 🙂
Bwhahahaha! 😀
Huge congratulations Nicholas! So well deserved. And the story about your daughter was just priceless! I can’t believe she’s 3 already omg does time fly. Wishing you and yours a beautiful Christmas! 🙂
I find it hard to believe she’s 3 myself! Thank you so much for everything, Debby. May your Christmas be magical 🙂
This was such a joy to read, Nicholas! Cheers to you and wishing you and yours a joyous Christmas. 🙂
Thank you so much, Natalie! Merry Christmas to you and yours 🙂
Kids are the greatest joy on Earth! Congratulations and I’m glad things are looking up!
Thank you so much, Diane! So am I 😀
Congratulations all around. You sound like a great father!
That is the sweetest thing you can tell me! Thank you for making my day 😀
OMG…Mary Natalie is such a joy to read about. Please tell us more when she finds out the boyfriend’s a lady’s man! Congratulations on all your good luck & accolades news! Forget about the ugly client and bad things that happened! Enjoy your Christmas.🎄🎶📚 Christine
Lol–thank you so much, Christine! You’re right, we need to focus on the good stuff that happens all around us. Merry Christmas to you and the family 🙂
Sorry for the tough times, and so glad you found some good moments and took the time to share them. I love the Kleidi story. Warms my heart and added a smile to my day.
All the best to you and yours this holiday season!
Thank you, Sheri! Her teacher told us that Kleidi hugs all the girls and was seen yesterday holding hands with Georgia, but thankfully Natalie seems to have taken that on a stride 🙂
I wish you a lovely holiday season!
Don’t get discouraged Nicholas, it isn’t easy raising a little one, working a day job and your writing career on top of that.
Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family.
Leslie
Thank you, Leslie! You’re right but sometimes it does get to you. Thankfully, nice things happen, too, so you have to remember to focus on those.
Cute story Nicholas. Have a Merry Christmas
Thank you, Chuck! You too 🙂
Wonderful news for you, my friend. Congrats! And the story about Mary Nathalie was sooo cute!
Lol–thank you 😀
Aww…I wish the best for your family! Poor Mary Natalie. She’s so cute! I love the photo!
I hope you get some more sales! And congrats on winning that award!
Thank you so much, Emily! Merry Christmas to you and yours 😀
Well done with the award, Nicholas. Well-deserved. Your daughter is growing up fast. More like a six year-old, than three. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
Thank you so much, Pete! Yes, she’s amazingly developed for a 3-year-old. In fact, her nickname is “Bean Sprout.” I had some sad news today, though, as her teacher told us that Kleidi is a bit of a lady’s man (a girl’s boy?) and was seen today holding hands with another girl, Georgia. Sigh…