Daddy's Girls

The BabyGirl is a major Daddy's girl.

And understandably so, he is a world-class Daddy. I happen to love him quite a bit myself, so I'm not surprised that she thinks he is great too.

Sometimes, however, i want to tell her, "Back off; he's mine! I had him first!" She seems to think that his sole purpose in life is to spend every waking moment with her. This doesn't always work for him. Or for me.

So with Bright Eyes i hoped that she would not be a Daddy's girl, cause it's getting to be stiff competition around here! Sometimes there isn't enough of him to go around.

Well guess what, Bright Eyes ADORES Daddy. Thinks he's the greatest thing ever. Whenever he enters the room, she drops whatever she is doing and insists that he hold her right that very minute. If i happen to be holding her when she lays eyes on Daddy, she leaps out of my arms like a flying squirrel. They are very sweet together. They have this cute thing where The Professor rubs his face on her cheek (kind of like a kitty does), and then she rubs her face on his cheek. Of course Daddy gives the best tickles and the best raspberries on her tummy.

It is an unbearable hardship for the BabyGirl to be parted from Daddy during the course of the workday. It then becomes an unbearable hardship for me to deal with the BabyGirl and her anguish. To cope, we have instituted two "Daddy Songs." The first one we composed a year ago, and it goes like this:

(to the tune of Frere Jacques)
Where is Daddy, Where is Daddy?
He's at work
He's at work
Daaaaaddy loves you
Daaaaaddy loves you
Yes he does, Yes he does

This past week, we came up with another one. It was about 4:30pm and Daddy was due home at 5:30. The BabyGirl had asked if Daddy was coming home. I told her that yes! he was coming soon. Well she needed to know the specifics of how soon is soon. Is he driving in his car right now? No. In that case, it's not soon at all and the devastation shall continue. We got into a debate of semantics. I could easily tell her that he would be home in an hour, but that had no significance to her. For some reason she kept saying, "Is he coming home soon, or sooner?" And thus our next Daddy song was born:

Soon and very soon, we are going to see our Daddy!
Soon and very soon, we are going to see our Daddy!
Soon and very soon, we are going to see our Daddy!
Hallelujah, hallelujah, we are going to see our Daddy!

He'll come home at 5 o'clock, we are going to see our Daddy!
He'll come home at 5 o'clock, we are going to see our Daddy!
He'll come home at 5 o'clock, we are going to see our Daddy!
Hallelujah, hallelujah, we are going to see our Daddy!

I think i sang that song for a solid hour until Daddy got home.

Recently the BabyGirl and Daddy have begun a tradition of eating popsicles together outside on the doorstep after dinner. When The Professor was little, Grandma Jackie always made homemade Koolaid popsicles. To this day, every time he visits Grandma Jackie's house (which regrettably is not very often), she always has homemade popsicles for him. Years and years ago she gave us a set of popsicle molds so we could make them too! The BabyGirl loves them and loves eating them together with Daddy even more. They made a game out of sneaking bites from the other's popsicle. It's a very special time that they share together.

Even though at times i'm kind of unwilling to share The Professor with these little usurpers, I'm unendingly greatful for what a great father he is. Both our girls love him with their whole hearts. Thank you Professor for your devotion to our family!