It slips out of her pretty, little three-year-old lips like she had been calling him that all her life. But she hadn’t. In fact, she hasn’t even met this man. It stunned me and said, “Baby, you know he’s not your daddy, right?”

“I was talking to my phone.” she says, showing me a speck of something she found on the ground.

I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. She was talking to my ex and current love interest.  How’d he become that important to her?

P and I started talking about a month ago. We spend hours on the phone chatting and texting. We’ve been sharing our past experience and our current desire to see what happens. We are at the “nothing too serious or concrete” stage, as we live on two different coasts. 2,800 miles does put a bit of a damper on romance.

P had no problem talking to Miss O. From the moment the engaged in their first conversation, she was hooked on having the opportunity to speak to him. He is attentive and engaging with her in a way that amazes me.I’m amazed because the fact is Miss O does not talk to anyone on the phone, but the ease in which they fell into a conversation delighted me. I felt that it was a good sign that, when or if, they ever meet; they would have a great connection.

But this weekend, when she called him Daddy, it all changed. I had to step back and take a metered approach to their relationship. Do I tell her that he’s Uncle P? Do I tell her that he’s just mommy’s friend?

The real quesiton is how did she make such a quantum leap to calling him Daddy. Was it because a smile was on my face? Is my demeanor different? It’s not like she’s seen him and I together.

What would you do if you were me?