Daddy or Uncle - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 4days old. (15/6/2009)

All men are daddies!
Oops, my little Zo Ee seems to be confused that all men should be called daddy. "Is this a grouping confusion?" As she is so used to say "dog” for all types of dogs, “tree” for all the different trees that she sees every day and flowers, birds, cars, etc.

"Or is she being correct?" This is because she is used to read the word Dad on her picture dictionary, and that man in that dictionary is sure not Zo Ee's daddy at all. He is just another man in illustration. Furthermore, Zo Ee does understand that the word Dad means daddy, as each time, she will read the word dad out loud first before commenting that it also means daddy by saying the word daddy out loud. In addition, she had also encountered this "kiss daddy goodnight." from one of the library books she read earlier and neither that the man in that illustration is Zo Ee's daddy. Again, the picture plainly shown another man, and not the similar man she encountered earlier in her dictionary too. Moreover, Zo Ee had read a few more other library books with the word daddy in them and all have different man as their own illustration. Therefore, "could this(seeing many different man being called daddy in different books) have let little Zo Ee to deduce that the word daddy just means any man?" - this is exactly how little kids learn, through seeing enough examples before deducing their own rules.

The first time little Zo Ee called someone else "daddy" happened last week, when my cousin and her boyfriend came for a visit. She said “daddy” and pointed at my cousin’s boyfriend without being told. So I just corrected her then, telling her “No, he is not daddy.” But little Zo Ee kept calling him “daddy” a few times while pointing at him during the entire short visit.

Past few days; I do notice that little Zo Ee will tell me “daddy aah” whenever our neighbour opens or closes the door. At first, I thought she may have mistaken that daddy’s opening the door and that daddy’s home whenever she hears the opening or closing of the door. So each time, I’ll just corrected her telling her that “No, that is not daddy, that is our neighbour “. Coincidentally those staying next door are all male college students.

And today, I finally understood the true meaning of daddy to little Zo Ee when we were browsing daddy’s magazine just now. She pointed to a man in one of the pages and told me “daddy”. So again, I corrected her, “No, he is not daddy. He is Uncle.” But little Zo Ee insisted, pointing at the same picture again and said “Daddy aah”. Again, I corrected her while shaking my head – indicating no, “No, he is not daddy, daddy is at work. He is uncle.” This time, little Zo Ee was still staying put with her argument, saying “daddy” while pointing at that same picture. So to avoid this confusion, I moved on to another page, and when I saw another picture of a man, I asked Zo Ee, “ Zo Ee, who is this?” Zo Ee replied “ daddy” while pointing at that new picture. So I corrected her again, “No, Zo Ee, he is not daddy, he is uncle.” And this time, frustrated Zo Ee replied me while shaking her head- indicating NO and telling me aloud that it was daddy again. So I corrected her again, and she replied with more head shaking- NO, NO, NO and replied me aloud “daddy” while pointing her finger at that picture again.

Gosh! Seems like I am already having a little debate with my little 14months old girl, who insisted that the word daddy means "man".