dragon

Dear Dragon – École

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Dear Dragon,

You’re no longer a baby. On Wednesday we went to visit your future school. You’ll be going to a French Public school and from the look on your face when we visited, you’re going to love it.

I’m nervous about a lot of things; snacks and lunches, you making friends, dealing with buses, you learning more French. I feel I’ve failed you as a francophone parent, but hopefully the school will help and I’ll start speaking to you in French more once you understand. (I spoke to you in both, but once you understood English I just stuck with that.)

One of the teachers took you to get a paper and a crayon when we visited the class and you never looked back. I have a feeling that we could have left and you wouldn’t have noticed. I’m glad you’re so independent. I’m still nervous. You’ve never spent more than a few hours without someone from the family and well… I know I’m being silly. (I’m starting to understand how Marlin from Finding Nemo felt.)

We still have six months before you go to school but when you do, it’ll change our whole lives.

You’ll love the social interaction though. I sometimes feel like we don’t stimulate your socialness enough. Sorry KYD, your parents are introverts.

Every stage you grow is wonderful and scary to me. This one just feels bigger, probably cause it has so much more paperwork.

I love you baby Dragon,

Papa

Dear Pegasus and Dragon – Disney 2020

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Hello My Mythical Brood,

We recently came back from a two week vacation in Florida. We rented a house, with Grannie and Granddad, and visited Disney World, A LOT.

Pegasus, you started teething not long before and kept us up at night. (Mum and I mostly.) You fell asleep on rides and mostly seemed confused as to why we were standing around and not letting you crawl. When you weren’t annoyed you spent the time smiling at people and making their hearts melt. You have a way of looking at people, with your big blue eyes, like you’re judging them and then releasing a massive smile. It makes anyone caught by it ridiculously happy.

Dragon, you will probably not remember this trip. At 3 you’re still very young, but if you do I hope you remember the joy and excitement you felt on the rides. The first time you took a rollercoaster, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the fireworks started as we were climbing. It was beautiful. I’ll always remember how you would get super excited to meet a character and then completely freeze, and the smile you would have every time you saw something exciting.

The two of you had your ups and downs (Same with us). Some days were harder then others but you did great being dragged around the parks and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

I also hope you remember the quieter times at the house talking and playing with Grannie and Granddad. Without them, this trip would have been impossible. They are truly remarkable helping with you and everything else required in a big trip. We don’t always agree on everything, but I wouldn’t have wanted to take this or any Disney trip without them.

In the end, Pegasus and I got a cold but years from now I hope we’ll remember the good things.

I had a wonderful time with you, Mum, Grannie, and Granddad.

I love you both very much,

Papa

Resolution Review 2019

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Hello,

Another year down, another decade coming to a close.

I made a lot of resolutions last year and edited them mid-year.

So lets see how I did:

Writing (2/4)

1. Write a Monthly Serial Story (Success)

For the sixth year in a row I’ve written a serial story by the seat of my pants. It’s fun and I’m doing it again. Get your vote in for what will win for 2020.

Go Read Seren Plentyn and the Secret of Hokulua Station

2. Write the Bookend Material for the Short Story Collection (Success)

I wrote the material and added it to the short stories and submitted it to my publisher. I should hear in the new year.

3. Finish Paragenesis (Fail)

I’ve managed to get part way into chapter 11. Hopefully I’ll finish this one soon.

4. Get to the 2/3 mark on Mystery of the Dancing Lights (Fail)

I have to finish this one by mid-year next year. I want to submit it to my publisher by September for hopefully a release in 2022.

JenEric Designs and Coffee (1/2)

5. Continue to ensure there’s content 5 days a week on JenEric Designs (Fail)

We broke our 6 year streak with a missed post in February. The post was set for the right day but didn’t actually post and we didn’t notice until the next day; so it’s a fail.

6. Test, Design, and Produce 2 new coffee flavours (Success)

We debuted Mighty ThOrange, In Another Castle, and Unbirthday Cake this year. So I went a little overboard.

  • A light roast with orange flavouring
  • A medium roast with peach flavouring
  • A light roast with cake batter flavouring

You can buy them and other JenEric Coffee here!

Editing and Marketing (2.5/4)

7. Edit and send Dinosaur Road Trip to a willing beta reader (Fail)

Yeah, I really need to do this, but I hate editing, I never plan on submitting this, and the story makes me sad and miss my mom.

8. Submit Everdome for blurbs (Success)

I gave my publisher all the information and they sent everything out. I got a really nice blurb from John Hass and a nice refusal from Seanan Mcguire.

9. Playtest the higher levels of FADDS (Success)

We’ve playtested 11-15 and so far it’s going splendidly.

10. Figure out how to market and sell CoasteRPG (Success/Fail)

I’ve changed the name to Oneshot – The Simplest RPG and I’m thinking making erasable character sheets with the rules on them. So I’ll say this is a half/half.

Personal (3.5/4)

11. Read 20 books (Success)

I barely made this goal. It’s a lot harder to read with kids in the house and no bus ride but I made it.

12. Don’t Burnout (Success)

I came very close twice. I recognized the signs and made sure to rearrange things. It wasn’t easy and I’m still doing more than I probably should but overall good.

13. Be More Patient (Success/Fail)

Potty training, allergies, and two colds meant I didn’t have as much patience as I should have. But I’m trying and improving.

14. Play Some Video games with Dragon (Success)

I played some mobile games and also played some Disney Infinity with her. She’s having a hard time with controls, but overall it’s fun.

So the breakdown is 9/14 which is 64%. I think that’s pretty darned great. Hopefully I’ll do as well or better next year.

How did you do on your resolutions?

Éric

Dear Dragon – Consequences Suck

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Dear Sweet Dragon,

You are a fantastic kid but you’ve inherited every stubborn molecule from all sides of the family.

Our biggest struggle with you right now is how much you love your brother. That doesn’t sound too bad, except for the fact that you never stop touching, pulling, holding, squishing, hugging, or loudly singing/roaring/screaming at him.

You still don’t know your strength and he can not tell you to stop. He will occasionally make noises of annoyance but he’s not consistent enough for you to listen… even if you were inclined to listen.

So our current largest battle is getting you to respect his bodily autonomy and ask before touching him. You need to ask us, since he’s too young to reply for himself. Unfortunately, you refuse to listen or forget to remember… not sure which.

Note: Compared to hitting him or any other kind of mischief you could get into, this isn’t terrible, but it is very frustrating.

So last night you harassed him to the point of him being upset and us having had enough. We told you to not touch him or you were going to bed. Less than a minute later you saw him drooling and whipped around, grabbed his burp-cloth and wiped his face. I thought you’d hit him when I saw his head fall back but mum says he must have been surprised because you’re always gentle.

Either way, your face registered an, “Oh shit” moment and then you pretended not to notice.

We sent you to bed. You were not pleased. You cried yourself to sleep once at 9:30, then at 11:30, then at 2:30, then at 9, and finally you woke up at 10 and cried yourself into puking. Your tummy hurt so much that food was hard to handle.

This is hard on you and I hope you’ve learned to listen and respect others’ bodily autonomy, but I’m not so sure. Time will tell.

Something you might not realize right now, or even when you read this;hers’ really hard on us too. We love you and you’re a wonderful human being. Punishing you is hard.

I love you so much,

Your tired Papa

*Addendum added 2019-10-13* Okay Dragon. I didn’t go into details because I didn’t think it was relevant.

Here’s what happened when you were sent to bed.

  1. You got changed into PJs.
  2. We took you to pee and have water.
  3. We tucked you in and explained why you were going to bed early.
  4. We told you we love you.
  5. We let you try to sleep once you stopped crying.
  6. When you called for us we went up and did 3, 4, and 5 again.

We never leave you alone to cry and we refuse to force you to stop. We’ll comfort you and snuggle you but it’s okay to cry. (even if your crying almost always leads to gagging or puking.)

Eugene and Rapunzel

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Much to Dragon’s delight, Eugene (Facebook, Instagram) and Rapunzel (Instagram) were willing to stop for a photo. She could barely contain herself, but she’s getting better when faced with her heroes. She was willing to stand next to them and actually look at the camera!

Dear Dragon – Welcome to Level 3

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Dear little Dragon,

You’ve grown so much in every way possible. Today you turn 3. The last year has been absolutely amazing to watch. You’ve learned so much.

Since your last birthday you:

  • have learned to speak in full sentences;
  • learned to jump (but not land softly);
  • learned your numbers (mostly);
  • learned to dance;
  • gained a little brother;
  • started going on the potty;
  • played a tabletop RPG with us;
  • and I’m sure there’s more.

It feels like each year of your life we’ve taken a trip. This year we went to Stratford, Ontario for Katie and Mike’s wedding. Everyone loved you there and you really didn’t want to leave. You danced all night and made Katie and Mike really happy. It was your first long car ride and you did great.

You also went to your first Opinicon, the Coderre family reunion held every 5 years, you absolutely loved it. You said hi to everyone, played with your cousins and had a great time. In 5 years you’ll love it even more.

It was another year of conventions that you both helped prepare and are starting to help sell at. You went to Can-Con, Comic Con Holiday Edition, Ottawa Comic Con, and Geek Market. Your Mum and I love that you can hang out with us and help for 8+ hours a day at conventions.

I both love and fear your strength of emotions. When you’re feeling a strong emotion, everyone knows and it’s just like I was at your age. Thankfully you always swing back to happy quickly.

This year Baby Pegasus joined the party and you’ve been fantastic with him. He adores you, choosing to follow you more than anyone else (with his eyes… I can hear you saying, “He doesn’t walk yet.”) he smiles at you and you can calm him. You are a little too affectionate but you’re learning.

You are strong willed, clever, passionate, loving, curious, and you make everyone smile. You frustrate me with your procrastination and your stubborn streak but you also make me proud, every day.

The year coming has so many exciting things and I look forward to sharing them with you.

Happy Birthday Little Dragon and welcome to Level 3!

Papa

Dear Pegasus – Your Sister

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Dear baby Pegasus,

You’re two months old, as of yesterday, and you’re starting to congeal. I mean you’re no longer a large adorable lump. You’re smiling and cooing and showing preferences. You’re tracking people when they talk and even reacting to us when we look at you.

I love the look of happy relief on your face when I come get you in the morning.

In a lot of ways you’re like your sister was, smart, tall, and absolutely adorable. You also sleep really well, which is awesome. But in a lot of ways you’re quieter and more chill. I really hope that continues.

At almost three years old, your sister is dramatic, brave, loud, exuberant, clever, stubborn (oh so stubborn), and constantly questioning authority. I’m extremely proud of her even when I’m frustrated.

I was afraid that her drama and loudness might keep you up, scare you, or accidentally hurt you. So far she’s having issues understanding your personal space, but you don’t seem to care. Your biggest smiles are reserved for her. When she comes to help change you, you stop squirming and smile at her. It’s adorable how much she loves you and how much you seem to adore her.

I have no idea what either of you will be like in the future but I really hope you two are good friends. I hope the excitement and joy you feel being together stays.

Your loving Papa