Redefining The Daddy-Daughter Relationship

Whenever I watch my husband play with our daughter, I always think back to my vague memories of what I must have been like at that age.

Did I adore my Daddy as much as Vivie adores my husband? It's an odd thing to think of, really. After all, I love my Daddy.

I have really given this idea a lot of thought recently. I can remember sitting in my Daddy's lap on the sofa, watching television with him.

I must have been very small because some of the time I remember being able to sit with my back against his knees with my legs crossed in front of his chest.

There are a lot of memories like that. I remember him taking me along to get Donuts for breakfast from Southern Maid on Sunday mornings, and us going in search of a present for my Mum at Christmas.

Fast-forward many years, and here we are. I am much older now, and so much has happened over the years.

To make a long story short, Mum died 13 years ago (literally just before Bregon was born) and my baby sister has married, divorced and remarried.

Daddy and I have been through quite a bit together as a family, some good, some not so good, which brings us to where we are today.

I suppose the latest twist in our relationship started the day that my nieces and nephew went to live with my Daddy.

Daddy brought my nephew, who was only about a month old at the time, over to my house for a visit.

As it turns out, he was feeling a bit rusty in the infant department, and had needed me to show him how to give him a bath, which I was very happy to help out with.

Over the next few weeks, I would stop by Daddy's after work to check on he and the kids and try and help with the transition.

Somewhere in all of that, I found out that I was pregnant (which I wasn't too sure that I would stay that way so I really didn't tell anyone.)

It slipped out one day while I was dropping off some blankets that my Grandmother had made for Sister when she was a baby.

I was trying to explain how to get stains out in case they happen, and that I would be needing the blankets back when he was through with them when the news accidentally slipped out.

A few weeks later, I would get to tell my Daddy that he needed to be shopping for something a bit larger than the SUV's that he had been looking at buying.

In fact, I suggested that he might look at something more along the lines of a church bus, because I was carrying triplets.

At first he didn't believe me, but my latest family portrait (ultrasound pictures) proved my point.

We would be raising children that would be about 8 months apart in age as my nephew was a little over month and a half at this point!

It was really neat getting to help my Daddy in the early stages of re-learning what to do with a baby for my nephew's sake.

He would call me and ask me for advice on what to do in certain cases as the usual growing baby problems came about.

It was weird, really. It wasn't that he wasn't around when I was a baby (I specifically have many memories of him playing with me, rocking me back to sleep, even giving me a late-night bottle.)

I think it was more that my Mum and Grandmum always were doing things for me so he basically didn't get the why of much of what to do with a baby!

Anyways, it's funny how things change. The next thing I knew, I had delivered my triplets safely and all in one piece, and began asking my Daddy for advice since he had just gone through baby-hood with my nephew!

Now, when I am not sure about something, like when Kai fell and cracked his little boy head on the coffee table while trying to walk before he could really stand, I just call my Daddy and ask him what he did when my nephew did the same thing!

I got that blanket that Grandmother had made for Baby Sister back from Daddy, too (the one that had caused me to leak the news that I was pregnant in the first place!)

I also get hand-me downs from my Daddy from my nieces and nephews. In fact, I just finished sorting out 2T's and 3T's into boxes and labeling them before I put them away for when Vivienne finally gets big enough for them.

It's funny how things work out. To most girls, Daddy is a sort of Knight in shining armor, someone who a girl loves, but will rarely have heart to heart talks with.

My Daddy has evolved into someone that I can not only look up to, but someone that I can call in the middle of the night if my kids run a fever.

Daddy and I don't talk about baseball, or football. We trade advice on the best sippy cups, which diapers and wipes to use, and even sometimes will trade recipe's.

Don't get me wrong, I miss my Mum every day and wish she could be here to see all of her grandchildren grow up. But, I wouldn't trade my Daddy for the world.