Special Report – Daddy Time!

 You have the best Daddy in the world, little girl. I thought I should take a minute to tell you why. This is something I wanted to do for Father’s Day. I’m a little late, but here goes…

Your Daddy loves you, and I don’t mean just kind of. He adores you. You are his world. When he goes away on business now, instead of telling me he misses me like he used to, he tells me how much he misses you. I don’t mind. There is almost nothing that makes me happier than seeing how tightly you are wound around his heart.

When he’s out of town and calls to check in, usually the first question he asks me is if you’re sleeping because he wants to hear your voice. And the first thing he does when he walks in the door is call upstairs with a smile in his voice, “Where’s my Waywee?” (He also calls you Waywita. Your Daddy has a thing with nicknames. Just wait. I’m sure you’ll have 20 different ones by the time you’re age 5.)

Not only does your Daddy take care of us by working hard to provide for us, he also is an integral and extremely involved parent. He never tries to pass you off to me when he notices your diaper is full. He just takes you straight to the changing table without a word of complaint. He never complains when I ask him to hold you or watch you for a while when I need to get something done. Unless he’s on the phone for work, he drops whatever it is that he’s doing and immediately sets out to entertain you. He gets up with you in the morning when he doesn’t have to be on the road so that Momma can sleep in a little while. He plays with you on the floor and takes care of feeding you breakfast.

When he’s with you, he doesn’t just passively watch you play, he engages you. He makes up all kind of games. His creativity never ceases to amaze me. He’ll put your toys together in all kinds of strange and interesting ways and come up with stories that your various animal toys play out. Sammy socks gets stuck in the rain forest (your baby gym) and you have to rescue him. He’ll put Sammy just out of reach with a tail or a leg dangling just low enough that you have to reeeeeeach for it. Or Mr. Monkey will go missing and you have to search for the silly guy hiding under a bunch of blocks.

What makes it so great is his narration of what’s going on. Your animals have different voices and most of them have names. Sammy Socks, Mr. Monkey, Hoser the Elephant, Ribbit the Frog. Of course, he always lets you win the games he comes up with, but he stretches you too. I can see you getting smarter when you spend time with him because he makes your life so interesting!

Not only does he entertain you. He cares about getting to know you. I don’t ever have to worry that you won’t be taken care of when you’re with him. He is always observing, always asking questions, always learning, always paying attention so that he knows what you need and how to meet those needs. He watches for cues to what you’re thinking, what you want. He likes to tell me all the things he thinks he’s figured out. Sometimes I don’t see the same things he sees. I feel like between the two of us, we can figure you out pretty well. He truly knows you. He puts in the effort and the time so that you’re not just a baby to him. You are his little girl and he knows what you’re like, what you dislike, what you enjoy. He knows your sleep cues so he knows when he should put you down for a nap. He knows your hunger cues so he can feed you when you’re hungry.

He never complains when I ask him to babysit so that I can run some errands or go to Bible Study. It is his joy to do it. It is an incredible blessing to me to have the man I love, love you as much as I do, want to spend time with you, and be trustworthy enough that I can walk away without second guessing his abilities to care for you. I am even confident enough to let him bathe and dress you rare occasion!

He wants to be a part of every new experience you have. He never gets irritated with my picture-taking. He wants to remember too. (Even when you are totally not into it, tired and fussy like you were when we took these pictures, he can usually still get you to smile. That’s how much you like him. You were tired and in a bad mood and you still coughed up a few grins for Daddy.)

He lugs all your stuff around, no matter how many strollers, car seats and bags it might be without grumbling. He assembles are your new toys and furniture and makes sure everything is operational and has batteries. He regularly visits Babys ‘R’ Us with us and enjoys browsing the aisles and buying things for you. He never complains about spending money, if it’s on you. You will never do without if he has anything to do with it.

He lovingly brags about you to anyone who will listen.

He hugs you, kisses your cheeks, nibbles your toes, tickles your tummy, cuddles you and tells you how much he loves you.

You don’t smile any bigger than when your Daddy comes in a room. You flap your arms and talk and show off all those pink and shiny gums. That’s his reward for being the best Daddy in the world. Your total adoration.