Daddy Bonding Time

Some of you may not believe it, but Valerie has never called Ivan 'Daddy'. Well, she does know who is her daddy and she can point to daddy if you ask her. But she will never call daddy, 'Daddy'. On the contrary, she has called 'Mommy' since she was, hmmm.. I can't remember... 9-10 months??

If she's hungry, it's 'Mommy!', if her diaper is wet, it's 'Mommy!', when she wakes up and finds no one in the room, she'll cry 'Mommy!'. But never 'Daddy'. In fact sometimes when I'm not free and I get Ivan to pick her up, she will look around for mommy, if her first option is not available, well, she'll let daddy carry. Better than none, I guess.

Recently, I realise something. Ivan has never really bonded with Valerie. Sure, he has always been the 'Papa Maid' around the house. He wakes up early to boil porridge, run around to get the milk bottles ready, set up the bath tub, make sure the house is protected, if not, double protected  (I'm not exaggerating!) from mosquitos and all. But he never really has much hands-on moments with the baby. The only exception is when I need to get chores done, he has no choice but to carry her. He will then bring her downstairs, sit her on a sofa and turn on 'Little Einsteins' for her. That's his version of daddy bonding time.

So last week, I enforced a new rule. Daddy has to read her at least 2 books at night before she goes to sleep. Heck, I even bought a 'My Daddy is Fun' book to emphasise the word 'Daddy'. As expected, Ivan whined and showed me the bored look, but I couldn't care. I told him, he has to take up some of the actual parenting work :P

Relunctantly, he read. I have to say daddy did a pretty good job, in fact, he told the story a little differently than how I'd normally read it, but interesting enough to capture Valerie's attention. So after finishing 2 books, daddy couldn't escape. Valerie gave him more books to read. Haha... Less computer games time for daddy now.. Yeah!!

I'm not sure if it's coincidence or what, but after 2 nights of daddy's story telling, Valerie started calling him 'Daddy!'. In fact, nanny told me, Valerie actually said 'Daddy' at her place too. This has never happen in history. Before that, when nanny say 'Daddy arr'... Valerie will answer 'Mommy!!'.

Over the next few days, Valerie will actually look for daddy and tell me 'Daddy', pointing to the door. She wants me to carry her out of the room to play with Daddy. Isn't this great? I know deep down, Ivan must be really pleased. :)

So to all the daddies out there.... don't wait, roll up your sleeves and start bonding with your kids. They need daddy's love too, and that means sitting down and really spending time with them. Look at it this way, you may play computer games until your hair turns gray, but kids? Once they are out of the door, they won't be looking for you anymore. So treasure the time now, when all they want is you.

But that doesn't mean you should stop being the Papa Maid around the house, ok??