Penny is about 14 months old now. She has learned to walk (even run) but she’s still learning to speak. She mumbles a lot of baby words every now and then and once in a while she says “Daddy” but we know she wasn’t really referring to me but just randomly saying the word.
Yesterday though all that changed.
I was carrying her around the house when we came across a photo taken a few years ago at Shorty and my wedding. The photo had me, Shorty, her parents and my parents altogether at the wedding dinner.
Penny glanced at the picture and immediately raised her index finger at the photo version of me shouting “DADDY!!!”.
It was then that it hit me. Penny knew exactly who Daddy was. She was pointing directly at me in the photo. She was calling me Daddy and for the first time ever she meant it. My heart softened as I felt a mixture of joy and sadness. Joy because she called me Daddy and sadness because she was growing up so fast. Soon she won’t let me kiss her all over her head without fighting back or carry her as much as I do now.
As I looked at her smiling at my photo, my worries dissipated. If there was anyone who was happy to be growing up it’s her and if she’s happy why shouldn’t I be. So I gave her a kiss and squeezed her a little in my arms.
It was a moment that I will always remember, the day she called me Daddy for the first time. A beautiful moment that I should have been happy with and left it at that.
Sadly I didn’t…
What I did next ruined the entire moment for me.
I then pointed to my dear wife who was in the photo right next to me and asked “Who’s that?”.
Brimming with confidence after getting the first answer right, Penny answered proudly “DADDY!!!”.
“No no Penny… I mean this one… next to Daddy. Who is that?”
Again a proud reply “DADDY!”
Next I decided to point at my mother in law and asked her “Who’s this?”
I got a resounding “DADDY!”
My finger moved to my father-in-law….
One again a confident “DADDY!”
Then to mother.
“DADDY!”
My father
“DADDY!.
The carpet we were standing on.
“DADDY!”
The wall behind us
“DADDY!”
It was then that I realized. “Daddy” to Penny means anything and everything…. but not limited to Daddy.
So there goes the first time I thought Penny called me Daddy.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space